Coprescription of Gabapentinoids and Other Psychoactive Drugs in Patients on Dialysis

Gabapentinoids have been associated with altered mental status, falls, and fractures in patients on chronic hemodialysis (J Am Soc Nephrol 2018; 29:1970). Researchers used the U.S. Renal Data System to examine these outcomes in patients who received dialysis and both gabapentinoids and other psychoactive drugs.

The study involved 15,000 adults who were undergoing hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis and who were receiving gabapentin or pregabalin, but no other psychoactive drug, at baseline. During 1 year of observation, 30% of these patients also received prescriptions for opioids, sedatives, hypnotics, muscle relaxants, or anticholinergic drugs. During that year, rates of altered mental status events and injurious falls in the entire cohort…