Table 1.
Potential predictors for new benzodiazepine use measure during the baseline year.
| Predictors | Details |
| Patient Demographics: | |
| Age in years | Measured at baseline in years |
| Gender | Comparing women to men. |
| Measures of health care use: | |
| Prescribing Physicians | Number of distinct physicians prescribing medication in baseline year. |
| Hospital Discharges | Number of discharges in baseline year from acute care hospitals. |
| Charlson Co-morbidity Index[59] | Adapted by Deyo et al for administrative databases[60] provided baseline measure of disease severity and comorbid conditions. |
| Diagnosis for impairments or disabilities associated with an increase risk for falls: | |
| Previous Injuries from Falls | Any fracture or soft tissue injury including fracture of the hip, upper extremity fractures, lower extremity fractures requiring medical treatment in the baseline year. |
| Visual Impairment | ICD-9: 360–379 |
| Arthritis | ICD9: 274, 710 to 725–730, 733 |
| Stroke | ICD-9: 430–438 |
| Depression | ICD-9: 311, 298.0, 296.2, 296.3, 309.1, 300.0–300.4 |
| Neurological Disorders | Including dementia and Parkinson's disease: ICD-9: 290, 294, 331 to 337, 340–342, 344 |
| Seizure Disorders | Including epilepsy: ICD-9: 345, 780.3 |
| Osteoporosis | ICD-9: 733.0, 731.0 |
| Misc. Impairments | any other conditions not included in other categories that could increase the risk of falls or injuries (i.e. sprained knee) |
| Alcohol Abuse | and/or dependence: ICD-9: 303, 291, 305.0, 535.3, 571.0–571.3, 265.2,425.5 |
| Drug Abuse | and/or dependence: ICD-9: 304, 305.1–305.9, 292 |
| Non-benzodiazepine medication protective of fractures: | |
| Thiazide Diuretics & Estrogen | AHF: 40:28:00; 40:28:10; 68:12:00; 68:16:00 |
| Non-benzodiazepine medication associated with an increase risk of falls: | |
| Anti-Depressants | AHF: 28:16:04 |
| Anti-Psychotics | AHF: 28:16:08 |
| Sedatives | AHF: 28:24:92 |
| Miscellaneous Psychotropics | AHF: 28:28:00 (lithium, l-tryptophan) |
| Non-benzodiazepine medications known to alter motor stability: | |
| Cardiac Drugs | AHF: 24:04:00 |
| Anti-Hypertensives | AHF: 24:08:00 |
| Vasodilators | AHF: 24:12:00 |
| Opioid Agonists | AHF: 28:08:08 |
| Mixed Partial Opioid Agonists/Antagonists | AHF: 28:08:12 |