ArticleThe journal of nutrition, health & aging2017
Anticholinergic Burden and Functional Status in Older People with Cognitive Impairment: Results from the Regal Project.
Article in The journal of nutrition, health & aging, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 29 citations in OpenAlex.
- Anticholinergic burden for prediction of cognitive decline or neuropsychiatric symptoms in older adults with mild cognitive impairment or dementia.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2022Pooled it
- The anticholinergic burden in patients with chronic kidney disease: Patterns, risk factors, and the link with cognitive impairment.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2025Article
- Anticholinergic burden and clinical outcomes among older adults admitted in a tertiary hospital: a prospective cohort study.PloS one · 2025Article
- Anticholinergic burden and behavioral and psychological symptoms in older patients with cognitive impairment.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
- Anticholinergic Burden of Geriatric Ward Inpatients.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2021Article
- Observational
- Pattern of treatment of behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia and pain: evidence on pharmacoutilization from a large real-world sample and from a centre for cognitive disturbances and dementia.European journal of clinical pharmacology · 2021Observational
- Anticholinergic Burden, Sleep Quality and Health Outcomes in Malaysian Aged Care Home Residents.Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2019Article
- Anticholinergic burden and fractures: a protocol for a methodological systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ open · 2019Article
- Anticholinergic Drugs in Geriatric Psychopharmacology.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2019Review
- Anticholinergic Burden and Most Common Anticholinergic-acting Medicines in Older General Practice Patients.Zdravstveno varstvo · 2018Article
- Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveThe use of drugs with intrinsic anticholinergic properties is widespread among old age persons. A growing body of evidences suggest that a high anticholinergic burden is associated with physical and cognitive impairment. However, the association between anticholinergic drug use and functional status is still poorly investigated, particularly among subjects with initial cognitive impairment.
designCross-sectional study examining the association between drug-related anticholinergic burden and functional status in cognitively healthy (CH) (n=691), mild cognitive impairment (MCI) (n=541) or mild Alzheimer's diseases (AD) (n=1127) subjects.
settingData were gathered from the ReGAl project (Rete Geriatrica Alzheimer-Geriatric Network on Alzheimer's disease), a large longitudinal Italian multicentric clinical-based study, promoted by the Italian Society of Gerontology and Geriatrics (SIGG).
participants2359 outpatients, older than 65 years, admitted to memory clinics. The total sample size, estimated according to a global effect size of 25% with type I error of 0.05 and a power of 95% is 2010 subjects. MEASUREMENT: Functional status was evaluated by the Katz Index of Independence in Activities of Daily Living (ADL) and the Lawton-Brody Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) scales. The drug-related anticholinergic burden was estimated by the Anticholinergic Risk Scale (ARS).
resultsThe 15.9 % (n=375) of total population used at least one drug with anticholinergic properties. Such a drug use was associated with partially dependence in ADL (OR:1.42, CI95%: 1.10-1.83; p=0.006), independently of gender, number of drugs, comorbidity index, presence of clinically relevant neuropsychiatric symptoms and adjusted MMSE. Anticholinergic drug use was associated with un-ability at each IADL task only in male MCI subjects, with significant impairment in shopping (p=0.011), and drug management (p=0.05).
conclusionsThe use of medications with anticholinergic properties is common among older persons cognitively health as well as with cognitive impairment. Our results suggest that the use of anticholinergic drugs is associated with functional impairment, especially in old age subjects with initial cognitive impairment. Minimizing anticholinergic burden should result in maintaining daily functioning, especially in a vulnerable population, such as MCI and mild AD.
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Registered trials
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