The Epidemic of Deaths from Falls : Shared by Tom McDermott

This article is the third on our recent series on concerns relevant to the XUNICEF age profile. This one is the JAMA article on which the NYTimes based its article, "Why are more older people dying from falls?" which we posted two weeks ago.  Again, it makes the argument that many of the falls are caused by excessive and sloppy prescribing of drugs by physicians.  

Last week we posted, "Lessons from the super-agers," an overview of research on factors that keep those over age 80 going strong.  If you have articles on elder health that you think would be of interest to the XUNICEF community, please share.  And let us know if you find this series of articles on good living in elder years useful.

Tom 

Risky Prescribing and the Epidemic of Deaths From Falls

Thomas A. Farley, MD, MPH
JAMA Health Forum
Click here for the article

Summary
More than 41,000 adults over age 65 died from falls in 2023, a toll surpassing deaths from breast or prostate cancer, car crashes, overdoses, and other unintentional injuries. Unlike other high-income countries where fall mortality has declined, the U.S. rate has tripled over 30 years. Thomas Farley argues the surge is linked less to aging demographics and more to widespread prescribing of “fall risk–increasing drugs” (FRIDs), including opioids, benzodiazepines, gabapentinoids, and antidepressants. Despite warnings from the American Geriatrics Society, these medications remain heavily prescribed, often in unsafe combinations, to millions of older adults. Farley calls for organized, system-level interventions—such as electronic health record monitoring and quality-of-care incentives—to reduce inappropriate prescribing and prevent an estimated 25,000 avoidable deaths annually.

Quotes

• “In 2023, more than 41,000 individuals older than 65 years died from falls… more than from breast or prostate cancer and more than from car crashes, drug overdoses, and all other unintentional injuries combined.”

• “There is plenty of reason to believe that the surge in fall deaths may be tied to the soaring use of certain prescription drugs, which is a risk factor that, unlike most other factors, clinicians can readily modify.”

• “The more than tripling of deaths due to falls in recent years suggests that at least two-thirds of these deaths (>25,000 each year) can be prevented. It is time for organized medicine to take this problem seriously and act to save lives.”