BMJ 2001;322:675 ( 17 March )

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Drugs may have reduced effect of falls intervention

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR---Van Haastregt et al's study of the effects of a programme of multifactorial home visits on falls did not mention the drug history of the people who received the programme.1 The authors also did not mention whether there was any intervention with psychotropic drugs that are associated with falls.2

Interventional studies in elderly people receiving long term care have found that psychotropic drugs contribute to 85% of falls; reducing doses or stopping the drugs altogether and giving buspirone instead of other conventional psychotropics may reduce falls by up to 75% over one year.3 The rate of falls and admissions to hospital because of falls has been directly correlated with the number of psychotropic drugs used long term (Cooper JW, Horner MR, American Society of Health-System Pharmacists mid-year clinical meeting, Las Vegas, December 2000; abstract P-511E). A recent study of withdrawing treatment with psychotropic drugs and using a home . . . [Full text of this article]
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Relevant Article

Effects of a programme of multifactorial home visits on falls and mobility impairments in elderly people at risk: randomised controlled trial
Jolanda C M van Haastregt, Jos P M Diederiks, Erik van Rossum, Luc P de Witte, Peter M Voorhoeve, and Harry F J M Crebolder
BMJ 2000 321: 994-998. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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