September CPE Article Fall Risk Increasing Drugs and the Pharmacist’s Role in Fall Prevention Authors: Taylor Elliott, PharmD/MPH Candidate 2021; Asmita Shrestha, MPH; Mark Huffmyer, PharmD, BCGP, BCACP, CACP; Lynne Eckmann, PharmD, BCGP; Daniela C. Moga, MD, PhD; University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy The authors declare that there are no financial relationships that could be perceived as real or apparent conflicts of interest. Universal Activity # 0143-0000-20-009-H05-P &T 1.0 Contact Hours (0.1 CEU) Expires 10/30/23 Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this Knowledge-based article, the reader should be able to: 1.
Describe the healthcare burden of falls
2.
Identify risk factors for falls and complications of falls
3.
Define fall-risk-increasing drugs, explain how fall risk is measured, and identify relevant medication classes for intervention
4. Describe the pharmacist’s role in preventing falls in the elderly population Introduction
independently. In addition, the fear of falling a second time may cause the person to be less active, Falls are a major public health problem that disprowhich in turn causes weakness, thus increasing the portionately affects adults older than 65 years of risk for another fall.(3) age. Every 11 seconds, an older adult is treated in the emergency room for a fall; every 19 minutes, an Injurious falls lead to three million emergency deolder adult dies from a fall.(1) partment visits and over 800,000 hospitalizations per year. The majority of these hospitalizations are The World Health Organization defines a fall as “an related to a head injury or a hip fracture.(3) These event which results in a person coming to rest ininjuries often have a lasting cascade effect that furadvertently on the ground or floor or other lower ther debilitates the person. For example, a hip fraclevel.”(2)Pharmacists can play an important role in ture caused by a fall most often requires orthopefall prevention in this patient population, which dic surgical repair. The surgery itself comes with can subsequently decrease fall-related injuries and multiple acute risks, including infection and bleedthe associated emotional and economic costs. ing. Furthermore, the surgery also immobilizes the Healthcare Burden of Falls patient for a prolonged period of time, putting him/her at increased risk for a deep venous thromAccording to data from the Centers for Disease boembolism (DVT). The prolonged immobilization Control and Prevention (CDC), millions of people can also result in muscle atrophy and further aged 65 and older experience a fall each year. This weakness, which could contribute to a subsequent equates to more than one out of four older adults fall. In addition, the frequent prescribing of opioids in the United States. Approximately 20 percent of for post-surgical pain control also increases risk for these falls results in a serious injury, such as a fraca subsequent fall. tured or broken bone or a traumatic brain injury (TBI). These injuries often inhibit the person’s abilThe total associated medical costs are exponential ity to perform activities of daily living (ADLs) or live – each year about $50 billion is spent on non-fatal |12| Kentucky Pharmacists Association | September/October 2020
