SSRIs linked with falls of elderly patients

Falls are a major risk in nursing homes and dementia patients could be increasing their risk by taking common anti-depression drugs.(1)

Elderly patients with dementia often suffer from depression, and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are generally considered as the treatment of choice. According to a recent study(2), nursing home residents with dementia who use average doses of SSRIs are three times more likely to have an injurious fall than similar people who don’t use these drugs. The association can be seen in people who use low doses of SSRIs, and the risk increases as people take higher doses. The risk of an injurious fall is higher when patients also take hypnotic or sedative drugs, such as sleeping pills.

The nursing home incident reports showed that 152 of the 248 residents, average age 82, sustained 683 falls over one year, a fall incidence of 2.9 per person-year. 220 falls resulted in injury or death : 10 hip fractures ; 11 other fractures ; 198 injuries such as grazes, open wounds, sprains, bruises and swellings. One person died after falling.

« We should consider developing new treatment protocols that take into account the increased risk of falling that occurs when you give people SSRIs. Physicians should be cautious in prescribing SSRIs to older people with dementia, even at low doses », says study lead author Carolyn S. Sterke.(3)