Risk factors for falls in patients treated with chemotherapy

Area of Science:

• Geriatric Medicine
• Oncology
• Patient Safety

Background:

• Falls are a significant threat to hospitalized patients, impacting quality of life and increasing care needs.
• Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is a known fall risk factor, but its interplay with other factors requires further investigation.
• Identifying specific fall risk factors in chemotherapy patients is crucial for targeted interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and analyze the risk factors associated with falls in hospitalized patients undergoing chemotherapy.
• To determine the specific contribution of chemotherapy to fall risk compared to other factors.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of 21,717 hospitalized patients from April 2016 to March 2023.
• Multivariate logistic regression used to identify fall risk factors in the general patient population and the chemotherapy subgroup (n=443).

Main Results:

• Overall fall rate was 4.3% (930/21,717).
• Chemotherapy emerged as the strongest independent risk factor for falls (OR 3.40).
• In chemotherapy patients, key risk factors included BMI, cognitive decline, hypoglycemic drugs, high-risk CIPN drugs, and lung cancer.
• Patients on both hypoglycemic and high-risk CIPN drugs had a significantly higher fall rate (37.5%) compared to those on either alone (14.1%).

Conclusions:

• Chemotherapy is an independent predictor of falls in hospitalized patients.
• The combination of hypoglycemic drugs and high-risk CIPN drugs substantially elevates fall risk in chemotherapy patients.
• Close monitoring for fall risk is essential for chemotherapy patients, particularly those on concurrent hypoglycemic and high-risk CIPN medications.