Have you had any concerns about an older person falling, or being at risk for a broken hip?
Falls are an important problem in aging adults, so I’d already been planning to discuss falls in the upcoming Geriatrics for Caregivers Q&A call on March 25th.
But coincidentally, a new clinical research study relevant to millions of older adults was just featured in the news.
The study, completed by a team of geriatrics researchers at Yale, found that in older adults aged 70 or older, taking blood pressure medication was linked to a higher risk of serious falls. (Serious falls as in, falls that caused an ER visit for a fracture, a dislocated joint, or a brain bleed. Serious stuff indeed!)
So, if the person you care for has a diagnosis of hypertension, and if you’ve had any concerns regarding falls or near-falls, these study results should be of interest to you.
In this post, I’ll review the key results of this study. Then I’ll tell you what I think are the most important practical take-aways for family caregivers.
This post will also include some practical tips to help you minimize the risk of your loved one experiencing a serious fall. [Read more…] about Blood pressure medications linked to serious falls: What you can do
