Sleepiness and the Risk of Falling

Summary

The purpose of this project is to examine the impact of sleeping pills and waking up in the middle of the night on walking balance and cognitive function, to identify risk factors for falls in older adults. A significant percentage of falls, approximately 33 to 52 percent, occur during the nighttime and morning hours when people are normally sleeping; therefore, it is possible that sleep and sleeping medication related impairments in balance may contribute to this risk.

Timeline

Start

2004-08

Primary completion

—

Completion

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Publications

• Background Brassington GS, King AC, Bliwise DL. Sleep problems as a risk factor for falls in a sample of community-dwelling adults aged 64-99 years. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2000 Oct;48(10):1234-40. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.2000.tb02596.x.
• Background Luukinen H, Koski K, Honkanen R, Kivela SL. Incidence of injury-causing falls among older adults by place of residence: a population-based study. J Am Geriatr Soc. 1995 Aug;43(8):871-6. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1995.tb05529.x.
• Background Wertz AT, Ronda JM, Czeisler CA, Wright KP Jr. Effects of sleep inertia on cognition. JAMA. 2006 Jan 11;295(2):163-4. doi: 10.1001/jama.295.2.163. No abstract available.
• Frey DJ, Ortega JD, Wiseman C, Farley CT, Wright KP Jr. Influence of zolpidem and sleep inertia on balance and cognition during nighttime awakening: a randomized placebo-controlled trial. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2011 Jan;59(1):73-81. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.2010.03229.x.

Drugs

Indications

No indication recorded.