CANBERRA, June 3 (Xinhua) -- Elderly people who take antidepressants or opioids are more than twice as likely to suffer a fractured hip after falling, an Australian study published on Monday found.
According to the media release of the University of South Australia (UniSA), more than 28,000 Australians over the age of 50 were hospitalized with hip fractures in 2018.
Their study revealed that the risk of fracturing a hip was significantly higher among those who were taking multiple psychotropic medicines -- mood and conscious-altering medications that are used to treat conditions ranging from depression to dementia.
"Antidepressants, opioids, anti-epileptic medicines, benzodiazepines (which are used to treat anxiety) and antipsychotics (which are used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder) all increase the risk of hip fractures," lead author Libby Roughead from UniSA said.
"Combining them increases the risk even further, up to five times in the case of starting antidepressants and anxiety medicines together."
This equates to one extra hip fracture for every 17 patients aged 80 years and older who are treated for a year.
This risk of falling can be lowered by reducing medicine use, exercising more and using other interventions such as occupational therapy and podiatry, the researchers said.
Australians are among the highest users of antidepressants in the world, with approximately 10 percent of the adult population taking them each day.
