Womack JA, et al. - In view of the possible stronger association of medication classes, polypharmacy, and hazardous alcohol and illicit substance abuse with serious falls among persons living with HIV (PLWH) vs uninfected comparators, researchers examined if HIV status influences these associations. Using a nested case-control design in Veterans Aging Cohort Study, they included 13,530 cases who fell and matched cases to 67,060 controls by age, race, gender, HIV status, duration of observation, and baseline date. Findings revealed the association of benzodiazepines and muscle relaxants with serious falls among PLWH. Serious falls in both groups were evident in correlation with non-antiretroviral therapy medication count, hazardous alcohol and illicit substance use, and opioid prescriptions. They recommend focusing on reducing specific classes and absolute number of medications and both alcohol and illicit substance use for the prevention of serious falls.