ArticleDrugs & aging2008
Benzodiazepines and injurious falls in community dwelling elders.
Article in Drugs & aging, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 69 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
69 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 172 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Inappropriate medication use and risk of falls--a prospective study in a large community-dwelling elderly cohort.BMC geriatrics · 2009Trial
- Incidence and duration of hospital-initiated opioids, benzodiazepines and antipsychotics: a retrospective cohort study.International journal of clinical pharmacy · 2026Article
- Impact of Anxiety and Anxiolytic Medication on Driving Outcomes in Older Adults: A LongROAD Study.Journal of applied gerontology : the official journal of the Southern Gerontological Society · 2026Article
- Lorazepam-Induced Orthostatic Hypotension and Secondary Headache in a Low Blood Pressure Phenotype.Cureus · 2025Article
- Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Functionality and Fall Risk in Institutionalized Geriatric Patients: A Longitudinal Observational Study.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Identifying excessive chronic alcohol use with phosphatidylethanol in patients with suspected severe injury-results from the IDART study.Alcohol and alcoholism (Oxford, Oxfordshire) · 2024Article
- Article
- Article
- The Function of Sleep and the Treatment of Primary Insomnia.Deutsches Arzteblatt international · 2023Review
- Trajectories of Benzodiazepine Use among Older Adults from a Concordance-with-Guidelines Perspective: A Nationwide Cohort Study.Drugs & aging · 2023Article
- Revision hip arthroplasty dislocation risk calculator: when to select dual mobility, large heads, constrained liners, or a standard head size? Testing one hundred thousand hip revisions with artificial intelligence.International orthopaedics · 2023Article
- Use of benzodiazepines and benzodiazepine-related drugs in the Nordic countries between 2000 and 2020.Basic & clinical pharmacology & toxicology · 2023Article
- A protocol for a randomized controlled trial comparing Sleepwell, EMPOWER, and treatment-as-usual for benzodiazepine receptor agonist discontinuation in older adults: the your answers when needing sleep in New Brunswick (YAWNS NB) study.Exploratory research in clinical and social pharmacy · 2022Article
- The Characteristics of Benzodiazepine Prescribing in the Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2022Article
- Risk of Falls Associated with Long-Acting Benzodiazepines or Tricyclic Antidepressants Use in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Nationwide Population-Based Case-Crossover Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Prediction model for an early revision for dislocation after primary total hip arthroplasty.PloS one · 2022Article
- Exploring the Mechanisms Underlying Drug-Induced Fractures Using the Japanese Adverse Drug Event Reporting Database.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Benzodiazepines: Uses, Dangers, and Clinical Considerations.Neurology international · 2021Review
- No impact of a prescription booklet on medication consumption in nursing home residents from 2011 to 2014: a controlled before-after study.Aging clinical and experimental research · 2021Article
9 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundBenzodiazepines are frequently used medications in the elderly, in whom they are associated with an increased risk of falling, with sometimes dire consequences.
objectiveTo estimate the impact of benzodiazepine-associated injurious falls in a population of elderly persons.
methodA nested case-control study was conducted using data collected during 10 years of follow-up of the French PAQUID (Personnes Agées QUID) community-based cohort. The main outcome measure was the occurrence of an injurious fall, which was defined as a fall resulting in hospitalization, fracture, head trauma or death. Controls (3 : 1) were frequency-matched to cases. Benzodiazepine exposure was the use of benzodiazepines over the previous 2 weeks reported at the follow-up visit preceding the fall.
resultsBenzodiazepine use was significantly associated with the occurrence of injurious falls, with a significant interaction with age. The adjusted odds ratio for injurious falls in subjects exposed to benzodiazepines was 2.2 (95% CI 1.4, 3.4) in subjects aged > or = 80 years and 1.3 (95% CI 0.9, 1.9) in subjects aged <80 years. The population attributable risk for injurious falls in subjects exposed to benzodiazepines was 28.1% (95% CI 16.7, 43.2) for subjects aged > or =80 years. The incidence of injurious falls in subjects aged > or = 80 years exposed to benzodiazepines in the PAQUID cohort was 2.8/100 person-years. Over 9% of these falls were fatal. According to these results and to recent population estimates, benzodiazepine use could be held responsible for almost 20 000 injurious falls in subjects aged > or = 80 years every year in France, and for nearly 1800 deaths.
conclusionGiven the considerable morbidity and mortality associated with benzodiazepine use and the fact that existing good practice guidelines on benzodiazepines have not been effective in preventing their misuse (possibly because they have not been applied), new methods for limiting use of benzodiazepines in the elderly need to be found.
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Registered trials
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