Seniors’ use of sleeping pills may decrease the risk of falling

The question: People who have trouble falling asleep or who wake up in the night and can’t get back to sleep sometimes take medication to induce slumber. But a common perception is that these drugs make people more likely to fall. Is this true among older people, who already are more prone to falling than their younger counterparts?

This study: reviewed data on 34,163 nursing home residents aged 65 and older, 6 percent of whom had insomnia. During a six-month period, 43 percent of the residents fell. People with insomnia – regardless of whether they tried any drugs to improve their sleep – were 90 percent more likely than the others to have fallen, while those who took sleeping pills were 29 percent more likely to have fallen than those without insomnia. Also, people with insomnia who did not treat the disorder were 55 percent more likely to have fallen than were those who took sleeping pills. The risk was higher for people with severe insomnia than for those with moderate cases. People who did not have insomnia but used sleeping pills anyway had no increased risk of falling.

Who may be affected by these findings? Older people with insomnia. Sleep patterns often change with age, but insomnia is not considered a normal part of aging.

Caveats: The analysis did not consider drugs that people may take for insomnia other than those classified as hypnotics. Precisely how insomnia contributes to falls was not evaluated. The study was not randomized.

Bottom line: Older people with insomnia may want to talk with a doctor about the benefits of sleeping pills vs. the risks of not treating their insomnia.

Find this study: “Online Early” edition of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society; abstract available at www.blackwellpublishing.com (click “View Online Content”; then type “insomnia and hypnotics” in QuickSearch field).

Learn more about insomnia at http://familydoctor.org and http://nihseniorhealth.gov (click “Sleep and Aging”).