Bookmarks
ID-492: Prescribed Opioids, Polypharmacy and Falls: a Population Retrospective Cohort Study
Safe People
Organisation name
Imperial College NHS Healthcare Trust
Applicant name(s)
Professor Azeem Majeed
Funders/ Sponsors
Safe Projects
Project ID
ID-492
Lay summary
This study examines how opioids and other fall-risk drugs contribute to falls in the UK, focusing on polypharmacy, prescribing patterns, and health inequalities, to inform safer prescribing and targeted fall-prevention strategies.
Public benefit statement
This project will help patients by identifying how commonly prescribed medicines—particularly opioids and other drugs that increase the risk of falls—contribute to serious injuries, particularly in older people. By understanding which combinations of medicines and patient characteristics (such as age, other illnesses, or number of prescriptions) place people at the greatest risk, we can highlight opportunities to make prescribing safer. The findings will directly support doctors, pharmacists, and care teams to review medications more effectively, reduce unnecessary or harmful prescribing, and tailor treatment to each patient’s needs. In turn, this will lower the risk of preventable falls, hospital admissions, and long-term disability. Importantly, the project will also highlight inequalities, helping ensure that safer prescribing and fall-prevention strategies reach those patients and communities who need them most.
Other approval committees
Project start date
01/10/2025
Project end date
01/04/2026
Latest approval date
16/10/2025
Safe Data
Dataset(s) name
Data sensitivity level
De-Personalised
Release/Access date
20/10/2025
Safe Setting
Access type
TRE