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Objective: To assess the association of in-hospital falls with anemia status before the fall, concurrent diseases, and drug use in adult inpatients. Methods: This was a retrospective case-control study of patients hospitalized between January 1, 1998 and June 30, 2003. To be included as a case, patients had to experience an in-hospital fall, be hospitalized for more than 24 hours, and have a hemoglobin test 14 days or less before the fall. Control patients were matched 1:1 on age, sex, race, hospital service, and year of admission. The relationship between anemia status, comorbidities, drug use, and in-hospital falls was evaluated using multivariate logistic regression. Results: There were 1126 fall cases that met study criteria, and matching controls were identified and included in the regression analysis. Cases were more likely to be anemic (75% versus 70%; P = 0.01), have a longer mean length of stay (13 versus 8 days; P Conclusions: Several common comorbidities increased the risk of experiencing an in-hospital fall; however, anemia was not among them. Central nervous sytem-acting drugs such as anticonvulsants, antidepressants, and benzodiazepines placed patients at highest risk for an in-hospital fall. |
