The Administration of Lemborexant at Admission is Not Associated with Inpatient Falls: A Multicenter Retrospective Observational Study

Int J Gen Med. 2024 Mar 25:17:1139-1144. doi: 10.2147/IJGM.S452278. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

Purpose: There has been no large-scale investigation into the association between the use of lemborexant, suvorexant, and ramelteon and falls in a large population. This study, serving as a pilot investigation, was aimed at examining the relationship between inpatient falls and various prescribed hypnotic medications at admission.

Patients and methods: This study was a sub-analysis of a multicenter retrospective observational study conducted over a period of 3 years. The target population comprised patients aged 20 years or above admitted to eight hospitals, including chronic care, acute care, and tertiary hospitals. We extracted data on the types of hypnotic medications prescribed at admission, including lemborexant, suvorexant, ramelteon, benzodiazepines, Z-drugs, and other hypnotics; the occurrence of inpatient falls during the hospital stay; and patients' background information. To determine the outcome of inpatient falls, items with low collinearity were selected and included as covariates in a forced-entry binary logistic regression analysis.

Results: Overall, 150,278 patients were included in the analysis, among whom 3,458 experienced falls. The median age of the entire cohort was 70 years, with men constituting 53.1%. Binary logistic regression analysis revealed that the prescription of lemborexant, suvorexant, and ramelteon at admission was not significantly associated with inpatient falls.

Conclusion: The administration of lemborexant, suvorexant, and ramelteon at admission may not be associated with inpatient falls.

Keywords: hypnotics; in-hospital falls; lemborexant; risk factor.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI (Grant Number JP21H03166).