J Appl Biomed 17:60, 2019 | DOI: 10.32725/jab.2019.001

Pharmacotherapy as major risk factor of falls - analysis of 12 months experience in hospitals in South Bohemia

Josef Maly1,*, Martin Dosedel1, Jan Vosatka1, Katerina Mala-Ladova1, Ales Antonin Kubena1, Iva Brabcova2, Hana Hajduchova2, Sylva Bartlova2, Valerie Tothova2, Jiri Vlcek1
1 Charles University, Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové, Department of Social and Clinical Pharmacy, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic
2 University of South Bohemia in Ceske Budejovice, Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, Institute of Nursing, Midwifery and Emergency Care, České Budějovice, Czech Republic

This study aimed to analyze the effect of fall risk-increasing drugs (FRIDs) and drug-related factors relative to falls through clinical pharmacy service in hospitalized patients, focusing on the relevance of clinical pharmacist evaluation in the context of physician assessment. A prospective study of inpatient falls was conducted in 2017 retrieving data from 4 hospitals in South Bohemia, Czech Republic. An online database was developed to collect patient and fall-related data, and fall evaluation records. Healthcare professionals classified the overall effect of drugs on falls using Likert scale. Univariate and multivariate correlations were performed with a significance level of p < 0.05. Out of the total 280 falls (mean age of patients 77.0 years), a mean of 2.8 diagnoses with fall-related risk, 8.8 drugs, and 4.1 FRIDs per fall were identified. Incidence of falls decreased quarterly (p < 0.001). Use of FRIDs were positively associated with increasing age (p = 0.007). Clinical pharmacists were more likely to identify pharmacotherapy as the relevant fall-related risk, compared to physicians evaluation (p < 0.001). An increasing total number of prescribed drugs as well as higher number of FRIDs increased the suspicion in both professionals in the context of drug-related causes of falls.

Keywords: Clinical pharmacy service; Drug therapy; Fall risk-increasing drugs; Falls; Hospital inpatients
Grants and funding:

Supported by the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic Grant No. 16-33463A.

Conflicts of interest:

The authors declare no conflicts of interests to disclose.

Received: August 27, 2018; Accepted: January 9, 2019; Prepublished online: January 17, 2019; Published: March 19, 2019  Show citation

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Maly J, Dosedel M, Vosatka J, Mala-Ladova K, Kubena AA, Brabcova I, et al.. Pharmacotherapy as major risk factor of falls - analysis of 12 months experience in hospitals in South Bohemia. J Appl Biomed. 2019;17(1):60. doi: 10.32725/jab.2019.001. PubMed PMID: 34907747.
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