COPD patients face risk factors related to falling such as comorbidities, smoking, history and/or fear of falling, and number of medications, according to findings published in the journal Respirology.

Researchers from the University of Melbourne in Australia learned that two in five patients from a study cohort of 41 patients had falls during a one-year observation period, and three quarters of those patients had frequent falls.

The overall fall incidence rate was 1.17 falls per person years, the researchers said. Smoking, number of pack years, comorbidities, number of medications, history of falls in the previous year, fear of falling, and higher score in a fall risk assessment questionnaire for older adults were all associated with higher fall incidence rate ratios.