Commonly prescribed medications increase fall risk and related injuries in people with COPD, suggests study

“Fall-risk increasing drugs are commonly prescribed to people with COPD because they experience a high number of symptoms and conditions that indicate use of these drugs,” said Cara L. McDermott, PharmD, PhD, assistant professor in medicine in the Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Care at Duke University School of Medicine and lead author of the study. “However, injuries from falls can lead to emergency department visits or hospitalization, resulting in a lower quality of life and increased health care costs.”

The study examined data from a single health system linked to Washington State death certificates of adults 40 or older with COPD who died between 2014 and 2018. Of the 8,204 people, 65% were prescribed at least one fall-risk increasing drug, and 30% had a fall with injury in the two years prior to their death.

“Our study compared the number of falls in the two years prior to death in people with COPD who used fall-risk increasing drugs to those with COPD who did not use these drugs. We found that the chance of a person falling increased relative to how many fall-risk increasing drugs they used,” Dr. McDermott said. “Pulmonologists and pharmacists need to collaborate with each other and with patients to develop fall prevention strategies and to increase patient safety by reducing the use of fall-risk increasing drugs and discussing other ways to mitigate fall risk.” 

Reference:

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases Journal of the COPD FoundationMcDermott CL, Feemster LC, Engelberg RA, Spece LJ, Donovan LM, Curtis JR. Fall risk and medication use near end of life among adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Chronic Obstr Pulm Dis. 2024; 11(6): 604-610. doi: http://doi.org/10.15326/jcopdf.2024.0551