Abstract Details

Title There Is an Association between Alzheimer's Medication Use and Hazard of First Fall in the Cognitively Impaired

Topic Aging and Dementia

Presentation(s) P03 - (-)

Poster/Presentation
Number 095

Objective

Background BACKGROUND: Falls are common in the elderly, especially in those with cognitive impairment such as Alzheimer's disease. The elderly are often treated with several medications which may have both beneficial and deleterious effects. Data on the association of Alzheimer's medications and falls is limited.

Design/Methods DESIGN/METHODS: Diagnosis, demographics, medication use, APOE4 allele status and functional activity level at baseline were gathered for 810 participants enrolled in the Alzheimer's Disease Neuro-imaging Initiative. Adverse event fall reports were tabulated by subject and date. Baseline characteristics were compared with t-test or chi squared between subjects with and without a fall. Cox proportional hazard model was conducted to evaluate the association between subject characteristics and hazard of first fall.

Results RESULTS: Age (p<0.001) and Beers list (p=0.0477) and Alzheimer's (p<0.001) medication use were significantly associated with hazard of first fall after adjusting for other covariates. After an adverse fall event medication was changed by the clinician in 9% of the falls. About 7% of the falls were reported to be serious and another 6% were reported as severe.

Conclusions CONCLUSIONS: Medication efficacy is based on the balance between their benefits and adverse effects. Often times registration studies may not encounter adverse events which occur during medication utilization in practice. We found a significant association between Alzheimer's medication use and hazard of first fall among subjects with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease after adjusting for diagnosis and functional activity level. Additional pharmaco-vigilance of the association between falls and Alzheimer's medication use is warranted.

Authors/Disclosures
Jaswinder P. Singh, MD PRESENTER	No disclosure on file
	No disclosure on file
Noam Epstein, MD (GlakoSmithKline)	Dr. Epstein has received personal compensation for serving as an employee of Praxis Precision Medicines.
Samuel E. Gandy, MD, PhD (Icahn SOM Mount Sinai)	No disclosure on file

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