Age, Sex, and Dose Effects of Nonbenzodiazepine Hypnotics on Hip Fracture in Nursing Home Residents.

OBJECTIVE: The Food and Drug Administration recommends a reduced dose of nonbenzodiazepine hypnotics in women, yet little is known about the age-, sex-, and dose-specific effects of these drugs on risk of hip fracture, especially among nursing home (NH) residents. We estimated the age-, sex-, and dose-specific effects of nonbenzodiazepine hypnotics on the rate of hip fracture among NH residents.

DESIGN AND SETTING: Case-crossover study in US NHs.

PARTICIPANTS: A total of 691 women and 179 men with hip fracture sampled from all US long-stay NH residents.

MEASUREMENTS: Measures of patient characteristics were obtained from linked Medicare and the Minimum Data Set (2007-2008). The outcome was hospitalization for hip fracture with surgical repair. We estimated rate ratios (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) from conditional logistic regression models for nonbenzodiazepine hypnotics (vs nonuse) comparing 0 to 29 days before hip fracture (hazard period) with 60 to 89 and 120 to 149 days before hip fracture (control periods). We stratified analyses by age, sex, and dose.

RESULTS: The average RR of hip fracture was 1.7 (95% CI 1.5-1.9) for any use. The RR of hip fracture was higher for residents aged ≥90 years vs <70 years (2.2 vs 1.3); however, the CIs overlapped. No differences in the effect of the hypnotic on risk of hip fracture were evident by sex. Point estimates for hip fracture were greater with high-dose versus low-dose hypnotics (RR 1.9 vs 1.6 for any use), but these differences were highly compatible with chance.

CONCLUSIONS: The rate of hip fracture in NH residents due to use of nonbenzodiazepine hypnotics was greater among older patients than among younger patients and, possibly, with higher doses than with lower doses. When clinicians are prescribing a nonbenzodiazepine hypnotic to any NH resident, doses of these drugs should be kept as low as possible, especially among those with advanced age.