Study, Jul/17: Benzodiazepines/Z-drugs and hospitalizations for falls in Taiwan

The full title of this Taiwanese study is "Association of benzodiazepine and Z-drug use with the risk of hospitalisation for fall-related injuries among older people: a nationwide nested case-control study in Taiwan".

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28693443

"BZDs are among the most prescribed psychotropic medications, especially in older people [9]. Because BZDs can be used as sedatives and hypnotics, they can cause problems as dependence and abuse [10] besides the side effects of dizziness, drowsiness, and coordination impairment. Moreover, after controlling the confounding factors, several studies have reported that BZDs independently increase the risk of accidents such as falls [11, 12], hip fractures [13, 14], and motor vehicle accidents [15]. However, data on whether different characteristics (as exposure duration, daily dose, and elimination half-life) lead to different risks are inconsistent. A study reported that the use of long-acting BZDs increases the risk of falls [16], whereas other studies have reported that the use of short-acting BZDs also increases this risk [17, 18]. In addition, another study indicated that dosage contributes more to the risk of falls than elimination half-life [19]."

https://bmcgeriatr.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12877-017-0530-4