ArticleEuropean journal of clinical pharmacology2023
Association between nocturnal falls and hypnotic drug use in older patients at acute care hospitals.
Article in European journal of clinical pharmacology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 8 citations in OpenAlex.
- Sleeping Medications and Prevention of Functional Disability in Older Adults with Low Care Needs: A Prospective Cohort Study.JMA journal · 2026Article
- Lifestyle factors, including physical activity status, associated with fragility fractures and falls: a cross-sectional study.BMC geriatrics · 2026Article
- Risk factors for falls in patients treated with chemotherapy.Journal of pharmaceutical health care and sciences · 2025Article
- Nocturia and Nighttime Falls in Older Adults With Hip Fractures: A Retrospective Observational Study.Geriatric orthopaedic surgery & rehabilitation · 2025Article
- The Administration of Lemborexant at Admission is Not Associated with Inpatient Falls: A Multicenter Retrospective Observational Study.International journal of general medicine · 2024Article
- Association Between Hypnotics, Accidents, and Injuries: A Study Based on the Adverse Drug Event Reporting Database in Japan.In vivo (Athens, Greece)Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeAlthough hypnotic drug use is a known risk factor for falls, few reports have analyzed fall risk associated with individual hypnotic drugs after adjusting for confounding factors. While it is recommended that benzodiazepine receptor agonists not be prescribed for older adults, it is unknown whether melatonin receptor agonists and orexin receptor antagonists are safe in this population. Here, we aimed to assess the influence of various hypnotic drugs on fall risk in older patients admitted to acute care hospitals.
methodsWe investigated the relationship between nocturnal falls and sleeping pill use in 8,044 hospitalized patients aged > 65 years. We used a propensity score matching method to homogenize characteristics of patients with and without nocturnal falls (n = 145 patients per group) using 24 extracted factors (excluding hypnotic drugs) as covariates.
resultsOur analysis of fall risk for each hypnotic drug revealed that benzodiazepine receptor agonists were the only drugs significantly associated with falls, suggesting that use of the drugs is a risk factor for falls in older adults (p = 0.003). In addition, a multivariate analysis of 24 selected factors, excluding hypnotic drugs, revealed that patients with advanced recurrent malignancies were at greatest risk of experiencing falls (OR: 2.62; 95% CI: 1.23-5.60; p = 0.013).
conclusionBenzodiazepine receptor agonists should be avoided in older hospitalized patients since they increase fall risk, with melatonin receptor agonists and orexin receptor antagonists used instead. Particularly, fall risk associated with hypnotic drugs should be considered in patients with advanced recurrent malignancies.
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