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Irregular medication use puts seniors at risk for falling
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Older adults increase their chances of falling by not taking their medications as directed, according to an article in the latest edition of the Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological and Medical Sciences.
These data are contained in a study of Boston-area residents older than 70 years, which found that those who sometimes neglected their medications experienced a 50% increased rate of falls compared with those who did not, according to a Gerontological Society of America (GSA) press release. GSA is the publisher of the journal.
Poor health outcomes
“Falls can now be added to the growing list of poor health outcomes associated with nonadherence to medication,” lead author Sarah D. Berry, MD, MPH, a research scientist with the Institute for Aging Research at Hebrew SeniorLife in Boston, stated in the release. “Because nonadherence is common and easy to screen for, health care providers should discuss this subject with their patients.”
Berry and her co-authors are the first investigators to study the association between falls and medication adherence, according to the GSA. The team used data gathered from subjects in the Maintenance of Balance, Independent Living, Intellect, and Zest in the Elderly of Boston (MOBILIZE Boston) Study, a community-based cohort of seniors recruited for the purpose of studying novel risk factors for falls. They examined responses from a total of 246 men and 408 women with an average age of 78 years. Between 2005 and 2008, 376 individuals in this group reported a total of 1,052 falls.
High/low adherence
A participant was characterized as having low medication adherence if he or she answered yes to any of the following questions: Do you ever forget to take your medications? Are you careless at times about taking your medications? When you feel better do you sometimes stop taking your medications? Sometimes if you feel worse when taking your medication, do you stop taking it? High adherence was defined as a “no” answer to every question. In total, 48% of the respondents were classified as having low medication adherence.
Those in the low-adherence group experienced falls at an annual rate of 1.5 times that of the high-adherence group. This association persisted after adjusting for other variables, including age, sex, cognitive function, and total number of medications, the investigators reported.
- Reference:
Berry SD, Quach L, Procter-Gray E, et al. Poor adherence to medications may be associated with falls. J Gernetol A Biol Sci Med. 2010;65(5):553-558.
