Sedative hypnotics use as the risk factor for fall incidents on geriatric patients

Abstract

Fall incident is one of geriatric syndromes that cause an increasing public health burden worldwide.
The risk factors for falls incidents on geriatric patients have been identified included medication
use. Benzodiazepine is a sedative hypnotic that found to be associated with an increase fall
incidents. The aim of the study was to evaluate the influence of sedative hypnotics on the risk
of fall incidents on geriatric patients. This was an observational study using cohort design
involving 188 eligible geriatric patients comprising 94 patients who take sedative hypnotics and
94 patients who not. All pasients then underwent a test for functional mobility and fall risk
using timed “up & go” test (TUG). The subjects who take ≤ 20 seconds to complete the TUG was
considered to have low risk for fall incidents, whereas those who take >20 seconds was considered
to have high risk for fall incidents. The results showed that the use of sedative hypnotics, sex,
and number of drugs taken were associated with fall incidents on geriatric patients. Geriatric
patients who use sedative hypnotics were 2.41 times higher at risk of fall incidents than those
who not use sedative hypnotics (95%CI;1.12-5.17; p=0.023). Geriatric patients who take
alprazolam were 2.78 times higher at risk of fall incidents compared to those who not take
(95% CI: 1.49-5.19; p=0.028). Furthermore, female geriatric patients were 3.29 times higher at
risk of fall incidents compared to male geriatic patients (95%CI: 1.58-6.88; p=0.001) and the
use of ≥ 4 kinds of drugs were 2.76 times higher at risk of fall incidents compared to the use of
<4 kinds of drugs (95%CI:1.21-6.29; p=0.015). In conclusion, sedative hypnotics is found to
be a risk factor for fall incidents on geriatric patients.