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

Publication at Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové |
2019

Abstract

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.