Impact of polypharmacy and drug use on stratifying the risk of falling patients in the hospital environment

Abstract

Falls can cause physical and / or psychological damage in hospitalized patients, in addition to increased length of stay and costs of hospitalization. Among the multiple risk factors associated with the occurrence of falls, the use of drugs that increase the risk and polypharmacy must be considered. Objectives: to estimate the magnitude of the effect of exposure of adult patients to polypharmacy and the use of Fall-Risk-Increasing Drugs on the risk of falls associated with the use of medications during hospitalization. Method: quantitative, cross-sectional study, carried out in a medium-sized general hospital, located in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Statistical analysis was performed using simple and multiple logistic regressions. Results: there was an association between the prescription of Fall-Risk-Increasing Drugs and the high risk of falling associated with the use of medications, with an OR of 13.53 95% CI (1.83 - 606.58). The occurrence of polypharmacy in the studied cohort was 81.4% (n = 57). Of the total number of patients who used polypharmacy (n = 57), 82.5% also used some Fall-Risk-Increasing Drugs. The number of patients with polypharmacy who used and did not use Fall-Risk-Increasing Drugs was statistically significant (p-value <0.05). Conclusion: the results of the study suggest that the use of Fall-Risk-Increasing Drugs is an important contributing factor to the increased risk and falls among patients using polypharmacy and therefore needs to be considered in the prevention protocols.