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Antidepressant use and recurrent falls in the elderly
Author(s) -
Lam Y. W. Francis
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
the brown university psychopharmacology update
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1556-7532
pISSN - 1068-5308
DOI - 10.1002/pu.30160
Subject(s) - antidepressant , medicine , falls in older adults , depression (economics) , hip fracture , depressive symptoms , psychiatry , poison control , injury prevention , emergency medicine , osteoporosis , cognition , anxiety , economics , macroeconomics
Psychotropic drugs, including antidepressants, are commonly prescribed in elderly patients, and data suggest their use is associated with falls and resultant hip fracture. 1 , 2 Questions remain, however, as to whether the falls are directly related to the use of medication or to the underlying depressive condition, and the association between recurrent falls and antidepressant use has seldom been investigated. The following longitudinal study evaluated the risk of recurrent falls in elderly users of various antidepressants, with the study including individuals with a history of falls and/or fracture.