Pharmacist Counselling and Medication-Related Fall Risk Awareness Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults in Saudi Arabia

OBJECTIVES: Among community dwelling older adults (aged 65 or older), over 30% fall each year, causing disability and early death. Earlier studies have shown the inability of older adults to identify high-risk medications related to falls. Therefore, we aimed to: 1) Determine the risk of falling among community dwelling older adults 2) Assess their knowledge of medications with fall risk 3) Evaluate the impact of pharmacist counseling on knowledge of medications with fall risk.

METHODS: This study was a questionnaire-guided, cross-sectional survey using convenient sampling among community dwelling older adults (≥ 60 years) in Saudi Arabia. The questionnaire included 12 questions to assess fall risk (STEADI tool, CDC, USA) and 9 items to assess medication-related fall risk awareness were adapted from Falls Risk Awareness Questionnaire.

RESULTS: A total of 391 respondents consented to participate, of which 58.8% received pharmacist counseling related to fall risk medications in the past six months. Individuals with existing arthritis (P<.0001), diabetes (P=.004) and obesity (P<.0001) were significantly more likely at risk of falling than those with other co-morbidities. Individuals with education of bachelors and above were significantly more likely to discuss change in medications with their pharmacist as compared to those who were not educated (P=.014). Likewise, individuals who received counseling were significantly more likely to discuss change in their medications with the pharmacist as opposed to those who never received counseling (P=.013). Additionally, individuals who received pharmacist counseling were most likely to have good knowledge about prescription medications with fall risk than those who never received counseling (P<.0001). Nevertheless, there was no relation between receiving counseling and knowledge of over-the-counter medications with fall risk.

CONCLUSIONS: The increased willingness to change fall risk medication by those who had been counseled by a pharmacist supports the role of the pharmacist in medication-focused fall prevention efforts.