ArticleBMC family practice2009
Association between risk factors for injurious falls and new benzodiazepine prescribing in elderly persons.
Article in BMC family practice, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 178 citations in OpenAlex.
- The effectiveness of exercise interventions targeting sleep in older adults with cognitive impairment or Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (AD/ADRD): A systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of sleep research · 2024Pooled it
- Psychosocial interventions for benzodiazepine harmful use, abuse or dependence.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2015Pooled it
- Strength training, walking, and social activity improve sleep in nursing home and assisted living residents: randomized controlled trial.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2011Trial
- Prescription duration of benzodiazepines: a retrospective cohort study of prescription duration in primary care.European journal of clinical pharmacology · 2026Article
- Off-Label Prescription of Benzodiazepines: A Retrospective Cohort Study of Prescribing Prevalence in Primary Care.Clinical drug investigation · 2025Article
- Psychotropic medication use and future unexplained and injurious falls and fracture amongst community-dwelling older people: data from TILDA.European geriatric medicine · 2023Article
- Insomnia, Benzodiazepine Use, and Falls among Residents in Long-term Care Facilities.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Article
- Characterisation of Benzodiazepine Use in an Older Population Registered in Family Health Units in the Region of Minho, Portugal.Geriatrics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2019Article
- The prevalence of benzodiazepines utilization and its association with falls among Saudi older adults; results from the Saudi national survey for elderly Health (SNSEH).Saudi pharmaceutical journal : SPJ : the official publication of the Saudi Pharmaceutical Society · 2018Article
- The association between depressive symptoms and fall accidents among middle-aged and elderly people in China.Environmental health and preventive medicine · 2018Article
- Benzodiazepines and Z-Drugs: An Updated Review of Major Adverse Outcomes Reported on in Epidemiologic Research.Drugs in R&D · 2017Review
- Using Multiple Pharmacovigilance Models Improves the Timeliness of Signal Detection in Simulated Prospective Surveillance.Drug safety · 2017Article
- Does accreditation improve pro re nata benzodiazepines administration in psychiatric inpatients? Pre-post accreditation medical record comparison.International journal of mental health systems · 2017Article
- Benzodiazepine Use, Misuse, and Harm at the Population Level in Canada: A Comprehensive Narrative Review of Data and Developments Since 1995.Clinical drug investigation · 2016Review
- Effects of a geriatric intervention aiming to improve quality care in nursing homes on benzodiazepine use and discontinuation.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2016Article
- Article
- Fighting insomnia and battling lethargy: the yin and yang of palliative care.Current oncology reports · 2014Review
- Article
- Psychotropic drug use in community-dwelling elderly people-characteristics of persistent and incident users.European journal of clinical pharmacology · 2011Article
- Dementia and hip fractures: development of a pathogenic framework for understanding and studying risk.Geriatric orthopaedic surgery & rehabilitation · 2010Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundBenzodiazepines are frequently prescribed to elderly patients' despite concerns about adverse effects leading to injurious falls. Previous studies have not investigated the extent to which patients with pre-existing risk factors for falls are prescribed benzodiazepines. The objective of this study is to assess if some of the risk factors for falls are associated with new benzodiazepine prescriptions in elderly persons.
methodsUsing provincial administrative databases, elderly Quebec residents were screened in 1989 for benzodiazepine use and non-users were followed for up to 5 years. Logistic regression models were used to evaluate potential predictors of new benzodiazepine use among patient baseline characteristics.
resultsIn the 252,811 elderly patients who had no benzodiazepine prescription during the baseline year (1989), 174,444 (69%) never filled a benzodiazepine prescription and 78,367 (31%) filled at least one benzodiazepine prescription. In the adjusted analysis, several risk factors for falls were associated with statistically significant increases in the risk of receiving a new benzodiazepine prescription including the number of prescribing physicians seen at baseline (OR: 1.12; 95% CI 1.11-1.13), being female (OR: 1.20; 95% CI 1.18-1.22) or a diagnosis of arthritis (OR: 1.11; 95% CI 1.09-1.14), depression (OR: 1.42; 95% CI 1.35-1.49) or alcohol abuse (OR: 1.24; 95% CI 1.05-1.46). The strongest predictor for starting a benzodiazepine was the use of other medications, particularly anti-depressants (OR: 1.85; 95% CI 1.75-1.95).
conclusionPatients with pre-existing conditions that increase the risk of injurious falls are significantly more likely to receive a new prescription for a benzodiazepine. The strength of the association between previous medication use and new benzodiazepine prescriptions highlights an important medication safety issue.
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