Are Your Pills Causing Spills Managing Senior Medication

On the one hand, medications contribute greatly to good health, but on the other hand, medications also are a risk factor for falls. Consequently, elders and their caregivers need to be aware of medications causing falls and how to avoid harmful drug effects.

Why Medications Cause Falls

There are several ways that medications contribute to falls:

• Adverse reactions are more common in elders because of changes in the aging body (decreased kidney/liver function) that affects how the body absorbs, metabolizes and eliminates drugs.
• Poor vision; inability to clearly read prescription labels and taking the wrong drug or dose.
• Poor hearing; inability to hear drug directions and taking the wrong drug or dose.
• Memory problems; forgetting to take medications or overdosing on medications.
• Polypharmacy (use of 5 or more prescription medications) can lead to drug-drug interactions. Elders taking 5 drugs or more are at greater fall risk compared with those persons taking fewer medications.