SynthesisBMJ open2021
Deprescribing fall-risk increasing drugs (FRIDs) for the prevention of falls and fall-related complications: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in BMJ open, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 72 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
72 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 161 citations in OpenAlex.
- Potentially inappropriate prescribing and falls-risk increasing drugs in people who have experienced a fall: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Age and ageing · 2025Pooled it
- Interventions for preventing falls in older people in care facilities.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Deprescribing in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.JAMA network open · 2025Pooled it
- Medicine Optimisation and Deprescribing Intervention Outcomes for Older People with Dementia or Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Systematic Review.Drugs & aging · 2025Pooled it
- Outcomes in deprescribing implementation trials and compliance with expert recommendations: a systematic review.BMC geriatrics · 2023Pooled it
- Medication reviews and deprescribing as a single intervention in falls prevention: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Age and ageing · 2022Pooled it
- Impact of Discontinuation of Fall-Risk-Increasing Drugs on Falls in Multimorbid Older Patients With Polypharmacy.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2025Trial
- Trial
- The rate of and risk factors for falls among patients with cirrhosis: A multicenter study.Hepatology communications · 2026Article
- [Falls and polypharmacy-an exploration of both the frequency and approaches to prevention].Bundesgesundheitsblatt, Gesundheitsforschung, Gesundheitsschutz · 2026Article
- Appropriateness over Numbers: Pharmacological Burden and Scalable Medication Review in Older Adults.Geriatrics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- How do falls-risk increasing drugs modify the association between index falls and future falls and fracture burden? Secondary data analysis from the Irish longitudinal study on ageing.European geriatric medicine · 2026Article
- Implementing a Falls Conversation Package in General Practice: A Service Evaluation.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Osteoporosis: a missed link in fall prevention - a retrospective cohort study.BMC geriatrics · 2026Article
- A five-year retrospective study of patient falls in a tertiary hospital: frequency, characteristics, and contributing factors.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Exploring Fall-Related Fracture Risk by Possible Fall-Risk Increasing Drugs in Japanese Older Adults Using Municipal Linked Medical and Long-Term Care Claim Data: A Nested Case-Control and Case-Crossover Study.Geriatrics & gerontology international · 2025Article
- Prevalence and association of fall-risk-increasing drugs (FRIDs) with fall-related head and non-head injuries in older adults: a retrospective database study.Scientific reports · 2025Observational
- Activity of daily living impairment mediates the relationship between pain and falls in Chinese older adults: a cohort study.BMC geriatrics · 2025Article
- Dynamic fall risk prediction in hospitalized cancer patients: development and validation of a machine learning model using multidimensional clinical data to overcome over-sensitivity in traditional scales.BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2025Article
- Implementing pharmacist-led home medicines reviews within fracture liaison services for better post-fracture care: a qualitative study of patient and practitioner experience.Osteoporosis international : a journal established as result of cooperation between the European Foundation for Osteoporosis and the National Osteoporosis Foundation of the USA · 2025Article
12 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
5 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesPrevention of falls and fall-related injuries is a priority due to the substantial health and financial burden of falls on patients and healthcare systems. Deprescribing medications known as 'fall-risk increasing drugs' (FRIDs) is a common strategy to prevent falls. We conducted a systematic review to determine its efficacy for the prevention of falls and fall-related complications.
designSystematic review and meta-analysis. DATA SOURCES: MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, CINAHL and grey literature from inception to 1 August 2020. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR SELECTING STUDIES: Randomised controlled trials of FRID withdrawal compared with usual care evaluating the rate of falls, incidence of falls, fall-related injuries, fall-related fractures, fall-related hospitalisations or adverse effects related to the intervention in adults aged ≥65 years. DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS: Two reviewers independently performed citation screening, data abstraction, risk of bias assessment and certainty of evidence grading. Random-effects models were used for meta-analyses.
resultsFive trials involving 1305 participants met eligibility criteria. Deprescribing FRIDs did not change the rate of falls (rate ratio (RaR) 0.98, 95% CI 0.63 to 1.51), the incidence of falls (risk difference 0.01, 95% CI -0.06 to 0.09; relative risk 1.04, 95% CI 0.86 to 1.26) or rate of fall-related injuries (RaR 0.89, 95% CI 0.57 to 1.39) over a follow-up period of 6-12 months. No trials evaluated the impact of deprescribing FRIDs on fall-related fractures or hospitalisations.
conclusionThere is a paucity of robust high-quality evidence to support or refute that a FRID deprescribing strategy alone is effective at preventing falls or fall-related injury in older adults. Although there may be other reasons to deprescribe FRIDs, our systematic review found that it may result in little to no difference in the rate or risk of falls as a sole falls reduction strategy. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42016040203.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.