Prescription drug use is up. So is the risk of falling

Falling is among older Americans’ most pernicious killers. The fall-related death rate for Americans over 65 has more than tripled over the past three decades, according to epidemiologist Thomas Farley. In a recent opinion piece published in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), he wrote that prescription drugs, including antihistamines and antidepressants, are a culprit, as they can cause dizziness and drowsiness. These substances are also known as “fall-risk-increasing drugs” (FRIDs). Michael Steinman, a geriatrician and professor of medicine at UCSF, says it’s tough to know whether the rate of deaths related to falls has increased threefold within the last decade. “But in a way, it doesn't really matter because what we do know is that the rate is too high, serious, a