Blood pressure medications more than double the risk of bone fractures among the elderly Risk is tripled in patients with dementia or higher blood pressure The meds could make patients woozy when they stand up MONDAY, May 20, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Blood pressure medications appear to more than double the risk of life-threatening bone fractures among nursing home residents, a new study warns. The increased risk stems from the drugs’ tendency to impair balance, particularly when patients stand up and temporarily experience low blood pressure that deprives the brain of oxygen, researchers reported recently in the journal The risk is compounded by interactions with other drugs and nursing home patients’ existing problems with balance, they added. “Bone fractures often start nursing home patients on a downward spiral,” said lead researcher , academic director of the Rutgers Center for Health Outcomes, Policy and Economics.
“Roughly 40% of those who fracture a hip die within the next year, so it’s truly alarming to find that a class of medications used by 70% of all nursing home residents more than doubles the bone-fracture risk,” Dave added in a Rutgers news release. About 2.5 million Americans live in nursing homes or assisted living facilities, researchers said in background notes.
Up to half suffer in any given year, and up to 25% of those falls result in serious injury. For the study, researchers analyzed Veterans Health Administration records for nearly 30,00.