Older adults increasingly are taking medications that are prescribed for valid reasons but that also elevate their risks for falls, results from a new study indicate. In their analysis of government data, researchers found that the share of patients matching this profile surged from 57% in 1999 to a staggering 94% in 2017.

In the United States, 77% of all UTIs and 79% of all community acquired pneumonias (CAP) are treated inappropriately in the hospital setting, according to an expert panel convened by the Pew Charitable Trust in 2018 to evaluate antibiotic use in hospitals. The panel’s findings, which were published in a March 18, 2021, report, revealed that fluoroquinolones were used inappropriately 47% of the time, and vancomycin was used inappropriately 27% of the time.

Older adults with functional impairments may be at a higher risk of medical cannabis use, as well as prescription opioid and tranquilizer or sedative misuse, suggests new research published in the online edition of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.