@article{ref1,
title="The elimination half-life of benzodiazepines and fall risk: two prospective observational studies",
journal="Age and ageing",
year="2013",
author="de Vries, Oscar J. and Peeters, Geeske and Elders, Petra and Sonnenberg, Caroline and Muller, Michael and Deeg, Dorly J. H. and Lips, Paul",
volume="42",
number="6",
pages="764-770",
abstract="BACKGROUND: the STOPP criteria advise against the use of long-acting benzodiazepines (LBs). OBJECTIVE: to study whether LBs are associated with a higher fall risk than short-acting benzodiazepines (SBs) (elimination half-life ≤10 h). METHODS: we used base-line data and prospective fall follow-up from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam, a longitudinal cohort study including 1,509 community-dwelling older persons (Study 1) and from a separate fall prevention study with 564 older persons after a fall (Study 2). Time to the first fall after inclusion and number of falls in the first year after inclusion were the primary endpoints. RESULTS: both in Study 1 and Study 2 the use of SBs was associated with time to the first fall, hazard ratio (HR) 1.62 (95% CI: 1.03-2.56) and HR 1.64 (95% CI: 1.19-2.26),respectively. LBs were not significantly associated with time to first fall, HR 1.40 (0.85-2.31) and HR 1.08 (0.72-1.62). In both studies, the use of SBs was also associated with number of falls, odds ratio (OR) 1.28 (95% CI: 1.01-1.61) and OR 1.37 (95% CI: 1.10-1.70). LBs were not significantly associated with number of falls, OR 1.23 (0.96-1.57) and 1.10 (0.82-1.48). CONCLUSIONS: the use of SBs is not associated with a lower fall risk compared with LBs. The use of both SBs and LBs by old persons should be strongly discouraged.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0002-0729",
doi="10.1093/ageing/aft089",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ageing/aft089"
}