Likelihood of Fall and Related Injuries Rise with Common Medicines in People with COPD: Study Finds - Video

People with COPD experience more falls and related injuries requiring medical care when using common fall-risk-increasing drugs, according to a new study. The study is published in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases: Journal of the COPD Foundation.

Previous research has shown that people with COPD have a higher risk of falling due to increased frailty, impaired gait, and the tripping hazard of oxygen tubing. They also commonly experience pain, anxiety, insomnia, and other comorbidities, such as

diabetes or hypertension. Opioids, benzodiazepines and other medications used to treat these comorbidities and symptoms can increase a person’s risk of falling and fall-related injuries.

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 before their death.

“Our study compared the number of falls in the two years before 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,” 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. “Pulmonologists and pharmacists need to collaborate 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: McDermott 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