van Poelgeest EP1,2*, Ploegmakers KJ1,2, Seppala LJ1,2, van Dijk SC3, LCPGM de Groot4, Oliai Araghi S5,
van Schoor NM2,6, Stricker B5, Swart KMA7, Mathôt RAA8, and van der Velde N1,2
1Amsterdam UMC location University of Amsterdam, Internal Medicine, Section of Geriatric Medicine, The Netherlands
2Amsterdam Public Health, Aging and Later Life, The Netherlands.
3Department of Geriatrics, Franciscus Gasthuis & Vlietland, The Netherlands
4Division of Human Nutrition and Health, Wageningen University, The Netherlands.
5Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus University Medical Center, The Netherlands.
6Amsterdam UMC location Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Epidemiology and Data Science,The Netherlands.
7Amsterdam UMC, location Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, General Practice, The Netherlands.
8Amsterdam UMC location University of Amsterdam, Hospital Pharmacy - Clinical Pharmacology, The Netherlands.
Corresponding Author:
EP van Poelgeest, Internist-geriatrician and clinical pharmacologist, Amsterdam UMC location University of Amsterdam, Internal Medicine, Section of Geriatric Medicine, Meibergdreef 9, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Abstract
Diuretics are established fall-risk increasing drugs. However, not all diuretics users experience fall incidents. Due to interindividual
heterogeneity in older populations, it is difficult to identify which older adults are at highest risk of medication-related falls. Therefore, we assessed if diuretic plasma concentrations are associated with fall risk in users. We analyzed plasma samples of 307 hydrochlorothiazide and 110 furosemide users from a cohort of older community-dwelling adults. Cox proportional hazard and logistic regression models were used to analyze associations between diuretic concentration at baseline, changes over time and fall risk. There was no significant association between fall risk and plasma concentration of either hydrochlorothiazide or furosemide at baseline. Nor was a change in concentration over time associated with fall risk. Thus, diuretic plasma concentration is not associated with fall risk in older communitydwelling adults.
