Table 1. Summary of Articles Included in the Literature Review.

Author	Study/ArticleType	Number of Participants	Age of Participants, Years	Definition of Polypharmacy	Association with Falls
Buatois et al. 2010	Population-based Prospective study	1618	Over 65	Four or more medications	Four or more medications/day a variable that can predict falls
Fick et al. 2008	Retrospective, Cohort	17,971	Over 65	Potentially inappropriate medications	Higher incidence of falls, hip and femur fractures than comparison group
Freeland et al. 2012	Retrospective Cohort	118	Over 65	Four or more medications	14% increase in fall risk with the addition of each medication beyond a 4 medication regimen
French et al. 2005	Case-control	2212	Median age 77	-	Linked to combination of meds known to cause falls
Gallagher et al. 2007	Literature review		Over 65	Inappropriate prescribing	Linked to a range of adverse reactions in older adults, including falls
Ganz et al. 2007	Literature review	Older people	Older people	-	Links to number and type of medications taken
Hartikainen et al. 2007	Systematic literature review	Older people	Older people	Four or more medications	Increased number of medications associated with inc falls
Kelly et al. 2003	Case-control	2278	Over 66	-	Increased risk of falls associated with types of medications rather than number
Kojima et al. 2011	Cross-sectional study	262	mean age 76.2 ± 6.8	Multiple drug use	Polypharmacy rather than number of comorbidities was associated with fall risk
Kojima et al. 2012	longitudinal observational study	172	mean age 76.9 ± 7.0	Multiple drug use	Polypharmacyis associated with falls
Lawlor et al. 2003	Cross-sectional study	4050		-	Falls increased with increase in number of medications as with increase in comorbidities
Tromp et al. 2001	Prospective cohort study	1285	Over 65	-	Four or more medications increases risk of falls
Veehoff et al. 2000	Literature review	Older people	Older people	Two or more medications	Standard of literature poor, need for further research
Weber et al. 2007	Prospective study with control group	620	Over 70	Four or more medications	No significant reduction in falls intervention group
Wilson NM, Hilmer SN, March LM, et al.	Retrospective study. Data from RCT	602	Mean age was 85.7 ± 6.4,	number of different medications	DBI is significantly and independently associated with falls in older people
Ziere et al. 2005	Population-based Cross-sectional study	6928	Median age 70.6	Four or more medications	Risk of falling increases with number of medications used/day