['Although it has been stated frequently that older people are more sensitive to benzodiazepines, the relative roles of impaired baseline performance, impaired elimination, and altered responsiveness have not been defined. We evaluated postural sway and plasma triazolam concentrations after administration of placebo and triazolam 0.375 mg in both young and older healthy subjects.', 'Double-blind placebo-controlled trial.', 'Nine young and nine older healthy men.', 'All subjects received triazolam 0.375 mg or placebo on different study days, which were separated by at least 48 hours.', 'Postural sway, visual analog scale of drowsiness, and plasma triazolam levels.', 'The older subjects swayed more during triazolam than did the younger subjects, and this resulted in an increased number of losses of balance. This difference appeared to be caused by greater baseline sway in the older subjects rather than higher concentrations or increased responsiveness. A subset of older people had a much greater number of losses of balance during triazolam than did the rest of the subjects, and these individuals could be identified from their baseline sway.'] Does increased baseline sway contribute to increased losses of balance in older people following triazolam?