Study shows innovative LED lighting system cuts risk of seniors falling

A two-year study conducted by investigators at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Midwest Lighting Institute (MLI), showed a significant 43 percent reduction in the rate of falls in residents at long-term care facilities that utilized a tunable LED lighting system compared to control facilities that maintained standard lighting.

The lighting was operated on a schedule developed by Midwest Light Institute that implements specific spectrum and intensity levels timed to regularize sleep-wake cycles and boost the daytime alerting effects of light. The results were published in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association (JAMDA).

Falls are the leading cause of injury-related death in U.S. adults aged 65 and olderi , and the economic impact of falls is immense, with fatal falls estimated to cost $754 million, and non-fatal falls $50 billion annuallyii.

Research has shown that blue-enriched, higher intensity light exposure during the day can improve alertness, cognition, and subsequent nighttime sleep, while blue-depleted lower intensity light exposure at night can help facilitate sleep. Implementing new lighting systems to determine if these improvements could impact patient outcomes had not previously been evaluated in a head-to-head study.