Nursing home falls linked to medication

BOSTON, July 19 (UPI) -- Nursing home residents are at higher risk of falling after taking a new prescription or an increased dose of certain antidepressants, U.S. researchers say.

Lead author Dr. Sarah D. Berry of the Institute for Aging Research, of Hebrew SeniorLife, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, said nursing home residents have a five-fold increased risk of falling within two days of taking or changing the dose of non-selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressants such as bupropion or venlafaxine.

Our results, identify the days following a new prescription or increased dose of a non-SSRI antidepressant as a window of time associated with a particularly high risk of falling among nursing home residents," Berry said in a statement.

The study, published online in the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, said certain non-SSRIs, such as trazodone, can cause postural hypotension, a dramatic decrease in blood pressure upon standing that may contribute to falls, while non-SSRIs, like venlafaxine, can cause sedation and coordination problems that may lead to falls.

However, the risk of falls, may be due to acute cognitive or motor effects that have not yet been fully investigated, Berry said.

Some estimates say, more than one-third of the country's nearly 1.6 million nursing home residents take some type of antidepressant medication, the study said.