Safety profile of hypnotics or sedatives on community‐dwelling older adults aged 75 or older in Japan: A retrospective propensity‐matched cohort study

Objective The purpose of the study is to assess if daily use of hypnotics increases mortality, aspiration pneumonia and hip fracture among relatively healthy individuals aged 75 years or older who lead independent lives in the community. Method and Patients Of the adults aged 75 years or older residing in Hokkaido prefecture of Japan (n = 705,538), those who did not meet several exclusion criteria were eligible for generating propensity score‐matched cohorts (n = 214,723). Exclusion criteria included co‐prescribed medications acting on the central nervous system, diagnoses of malignant neoplasm, dementia, depression, etc. We compared 33,095 participants who were prescribed hypnotics for daily use (hypnotic group) with a propensity score‐matched cohort without a prescription (control group). Participants were followed for more than 42 months. Results During the 42‐month follow‐up period, the incidence of the three outcome measures in the hypnotics group was significantly higher than that in the control group (aspiration pneumonia p