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. 2024 Mar;72(3):682-692.
doi: 10.1111/jgs.18702. Epub 2023 Dec 5.

Fall risk and cardiovascular outcomes of first-line antihypertensive medications in nursing home residents

Sarah D Berry  1   2 , Kaleen Hayes  3 , Yoojin Lee  3 , Yuan Zhang  3 , Dae H Kim  1   2 , Darae Ko  1   4 , Douglas P Kiel  1   2 , Lori Daielo  3 , Tingting Zhang  3 , Andrew R Zullo  3   5
Affiliations

Fall risk and cardiovascular outcomes of first-line antihypertensive medications in nursing home residents

Sarah D Berry et al. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2024 Mar.

Abstract

Background: Little evidence exists about the comparative effects of first-line antihypertensive medications (i.e., renin-angiotensin-aldosterone converting enzyme inhibitors (RAASi), amlodipine, or thiazide diuretics) in older adults with limited life expectancy. We compared the rates of injurious falls and short-term cardiovascular events between different first-line antihypertensive medication classes in adults receiving care in nursing homes (NH).

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort of Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries receiving care in NHs. Patients newly dispensed first-line antihypertensive medications were identified using Part D claims (2015-2018) and linked with clinical assessments (i.e., Minimum Data Set). Fall-related injuries (FRI), hip fractures, and major adverse cardiac events (MACE) outcomes were identified using hospitalization claims. Patients were followed from the date of antihypertensive dispensing until the occurrence of outcomes, death, disenrollment, or 6-month follow-up. Inverse-probability-of-treatment-weighted (IPTW) cause-specific hazards regression models were used to compare outcomes between patients who were new users of RAASi, amlodipine, or thiazides.

Results: Our cohort included 16,504 antihypertensive users (RAASi, n = 9574; amlodipine, n = 5049; thiazide, n = 1881). Mean age was 83.5 years (± 8.2), 70.6% were female, and 17.2% were non-white race. During a mean follow-up of 5.3 months, 326 patients (2.0%) experienced an injurious fall, 1590 (9.6%) experienced MACE, and 2123 patients (12.9%) died. The intention-to-treat IPTW hazard ratio (HR) for injurious falls for amlodipine (vs RAASi) use was 0.85 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.66-1.08) and for thiazides (vs RAASi) was 1.22 (95% CI 0.88-1.66). The rates of MACE were similar between those taking anti-hypertensive medications. Thiazides were discontinued more often than other classes; however, inferences were largely unchanged in as-treated analyses. Subgroup analyses were generally consistent.

Conclusions: Older adults with limited life expectancy experience similar rates of injurious falls and short-term cardiovascular events after initiating any of the first-line antihypertensive medications.

Keywords: antihypertensives; hypertension; long-term care; nursing home; safety.

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Conflict of interest statement

ARZ has received funding from Sanofi paid directly to Brown University for collaborative research on the epidemiology of infections and vaccinations in nursing home residents. SDB and DPK receive royalties from Wolters-Klewer related to chapters on falls. No other authors have any conflicts of interest with this analysis.

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