Association between prescription medications and falls at home among young and middle-aged adults.

Using data from a population-based case-control study of people aged 25-60 years in Auckland, New Zealand, the authors investigated the association between medications and fall-related injuries at home. The 335 cases comprised people who died or were admitted to hospital as a result of unintentional falls at home, and the 352 controls were randomly selected from the electoral roll. After controlling for confounding by demographic, personal and lifestyle factors, the use of two or more prescription medications relative to one or no medications was associated with an increased risk of fall injury (OR 2.5, 95% CI 1.3 to 4.8). Antihypertensives and lipid lowering drugs were the most common groups involved. The findings suggest that, as in the case of older people, younger working aged adults who use multiple prescription medications are at increased risk of falls, an aspect that should be considered in falls prevention programmes.