• Posted June 29, 2026

Sedatives Pose Fall Hazard For Recently Hospitalized Seniors

Family members should keep a close eye on Grandma or Grandpa after they’ve been released from the hospital, a new study suggests.

Seniors sent home with a prescription for a sedative have an increased risk of falls, which can lead to broken bones and impaired function, researchers reported today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

“Our results showed that discharging older adults after an acute care hospital stay with a new prescription for these medications was associated with an increased hazard of falls requiring medical attention, further need for acute hospital care and death in the 30 days after hospital discharge,” Lisa Burry, a clinician scientist at Sinai Health and the University of Toronto in Canada, wrote.

For the new study, researchers analyzed health records of more than 1.8 million seniors 66 and older discharged from a hospital between April 2003 and August 2023.

About 13% left the hospital with a sedative prescription in hand, researchers found. About one-third of those had not used sedatives for at least six months prior to their hospitalization.

Results showed that fall risk was 20% higher in seniors with a new sedative prescription.

Those seniors also were 20% more likely to wind up back in the hospital and 78% more likely to die within 30 days of their discharge, researchers found.

Benzodiazepines were associated with increased risk across all these hazards, while antipsychotics were linked to increased risk of falls and death, the study said.

“Although the overall absolute magnitude of the risk of adverse events identified was modest from a population perspective, the effects on patients and their families are clinically and socially important,” researchers wrote.

“Moreover, given the volume of hospital admissions among older adults and the aging population, a modest increase in risk translates into a large impact on the health care system,” researchers added.

Doctors should exercise caution when prescribing sedatives to seniors, and make sure follow-up occurs one to two weeks after discharge, researchers said.

“Clinicians must consider whether new sedative prescriptions are essential or can be deprescribed or de-escalated before or shortly after hospital discharge,” researchers wrote. “When ongoing sedative use is required, community support, such as falls or mobility assessments, and ongoing medication reviews may help mitigate risks.”

More information

The National Institute on Aging has more on falls and fractures in older adults.

SOURCES: Canadian Medical Association, news release, June 29, 2026; Canadian Medical Association Journal, June 29, 2026