Objective:

To describe fall risk-increasing drug (FRID) use before and after an unintentional traumatic injury or fall-related fracture and examine the extent to which hospital encounters affect medication prescribing in individuals with Parkinson disease (PD).

Background:

Individuals with PD are at increased risk of falls and fractures. FRIDs represent a major modifiable factor that can potentially reduce the risk of subsequent events.

Design/Methods:

We identified persons with PD hospitalized for injury or fracture and matched each person to up to 4 individuals with PD who were hospitalized for other reasons using 2013-2017 U.S. Medicare data. A difference-in-difference design was used to compare FRID dispensing before and after hospitalization between the two groups. We examined the changes in standardized daily doses of FRIDs in the two groups upon hospital admission and at 3-, 6-, and 12-months post-discharge, adjusting for covariates. Exploratory analyses were performed to evaluate potential medication discontinuation and tapering following discharge.

Results:

We identified 9,437 persons with PD who had a qualifying hospitalization for injury or fracture and 32,487 matched individuals. While both groups experienced reductions in standardized daily doses of FRIDs, the differences in dose reductions were minimal (-1.94, 95% CI [-2.05, -1.82] in the injury group vs. -1.91, 95% CI [-1.97, -1.84] in the non-injury group; p=0.66 at 12 months). Over 40% of subjects discontinued FRIDs at 3 months in both groups, and ~2/3 to 3/4 of these sustained discontinuations through one year.

Conclusions:

There were no clinically significant differences in FRID dose reductions pre- to post-hospitalization between PD individuals with injury or fracture versus those without. More efforts are needed to enhance deprescribing practices during transition of care, especially after a sentinel event, to prevent subsequent unintentional injuries or fractures.