Falls in elderly Brazilians and the relationship to medication : a systematic review.

Falls in the elderly, often classified as accidental, are frequently related to medication, generally involving poor prognosis and thus becoming a public health issue. The purpose of this systematic review was to identify published Brazilian studies on medication as a risk factor for falls or fall-related fractures in the elderly. The search covered the LILACS, PubMed, and SciELO indexes using the descriptors falls, elderly, and pharmaceutical preparations/medications/medicines/ drugs or specific drug classes. A total of 340 articles presented data on prevalence, incidence, and risk factors associated with medication and falls or fall-related fractures, but only 6 pharmacoepidemiological studies were examined because they were conducted specifically in Brazilian samples. The main drug classes associated with increased risk of falls: antidepressants, sedatives, anxiolytics, and diuretics. The promotion of rational drug use in geriatrics requires well-designed studies to produce robust scientific data