Blood Pressure Medications Lead to Risk of Falls Among Older Patients: Study

Elderly patients taking blood pressure pills are at risk of injuries due to falls, a latest study shows.

Researchers at the Yale University found that blood pressure tablets increase chances of falls that could lead to severe injuries such as hip fractures and head trauma.

For the study, the researchers examined 4,961 patients with hypertension. All the participants were aged above 70. Among these 14.1 percent did not take antihypertensive medications, 54.6 percent had moderate exposure to blood pressure pills and 31.3 percent had high exposure to the medications.

The participants were tracked for three years. During the study period, 446 patients (9 percent) experienced serious injuries and 111 people died from falls. Furthermore, the researchers found that injuries due to falling were more among the patients who took the blood pressure medications than those who did not take. The number was even higher among the patients who had a previous fall injury.

"Although cause and effect cannot be established in this observational study and we cannot exclude confounding, antihypertensive medications seemed to be associated with an increased risk of serious fall injury compared with no antihypertensive use in this nationally representative cohort of older adults, particularly among participants with a previous fall injury. The potential harms vs. benefits of antihypertensive medications should be weighed in deciding whether to continue antihypertensives in older adults with multiple chronic conditions," the researchers said in a press release.

The authors also stated that most people older than 70 have high blood pressure. Blood pressure control is the key to reducing risk for myocardial infarction (MI, heart attack) and stroke.

The findings are important as they show that antihypertensive medications increase the risk of injurious falls, said Sarah D. Berry, M.D. and Douglas P. Kiel, M.D., of Hebrew SeniorLife, Boston.

"An alternative possibility is that the increased risk of injurious falls is due not to antihypertensive medications but rather to the underlying hypertension or overall burden of illness," they added.

Berry and Kiel advised that clinicians should individualize the decision to treat hypertension according to functional status, life expectancy and preferences of care. They should also look into the falling risk in older adults with hypertension, especially those with a history of previous injury.

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