What this study adds
- To our knowledge, our study is the first that investigates the link
between polypharmacotherapy and falls by stratifying into several
plausible culprit mechanisms under the umbrella of polypharmacotherapy
- We show an increased risk of falls per unit increase of ACB score,
which is previously unreported
- Patients with calculated ACB score of 3 compared to those with ACB
score of 0 have a >50% higher falls risk
- Common adverse effects of polypharmacotherapy also included
orthostatic hypotension, bradycardia and hypoglycaemia
- Our data demonstrate that falls are strongly associated with
polypharmacotherapy rather than comorbidity, suggesting that a
significant proportion of falls are iatrogenic and preventable