ArticleBMC geriatrics2020
Increasing prevalence of anticholinergic medication use in older people in England over 20 years: cognitive function and ageing study I and II.
Article in BMC geriatrics, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
37 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 75 citations in OpenAlex.
- Associations Between Anticholinergic Medication Exposure and Adverse Health Outcomes in Older People with Frailty: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Drugs - real world outcomes · 2021Pooled it
- Fall-Risk-Increasing drugs and falls in community-dwelling older adults: a prospective cohort study in a single Danish municipality.European geriatric medicine · 2026Article
- Comparative predictive performance of anticholinergic burden scales for anticholinergic-related hospitalisation and emergency department visits in older adults: a population-based study of model development and temporal validation.International journal of clinical pharmacy · 2026Article
- Does the Addition of Vaginal Oestrogen to Anticholinergic Medication Improve Overactive Bladder Symptoms? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International urogynecology journal · 2026Review
- Article
- Utility of the Swedish Anticholinergic Burden Scale in a memory clinic setting: a comparison with the Anticholinergic Cognitive Burden scale.Scientific reports · 2026Observational
- Effect of Anticholinergic Drug Burden on Postoperative Delirium in Elderly Patients: A Nested Case-Control Study.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2026Article
- Anticholinergic and sedative medications use among community dwelling older adults: risk for polypharmacy and poor physical function.BMC geriatrics · 2025Article
- Anticholinergic and Sedative Medication Burden in Croatian Older Adults: EuroAgeism Cohort Findings.Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Temporal Trends of Anticholinergic Drug Exposure Among Older Adults: A 25-Year Population-Based Study.Drug safety · 2025Article
- Observational
- Community pharmacists' knowledge of, and role in, managing anticholinergic burden among patients with dementia in primary care: a cross-sectional survey study.International journal of clinical pharmacy · 2025Article
- Ipsa senectus morbus est? Approaching the unmet needs in geriatric depression: results from a national survey of medical experts.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Association Between Pneumonia Risk and Anticholinergic Burden Among Patients with Different Frailty Levels.Clinical epidemiology · 2025Article
- Anticholinergic burden and frailty in older inpatients: insights from analysis of admission and discharge medicines using four anticholinergic scales.BMC geriatrics · 2024Article
- Medication Exposure and Risk of Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Understanding the medication regimens associated with anticholinergic burden in older people's mental health services in the UK.BJPsych open · 2024Article
- Reliability and validity of the Swedish indicator 'Drugs that should be avoided in older people'-an appraisal of a set of potentially inappropriate medications.European journal of clinical pharmacology · 2024Article
- Increased anticholinergic medication use in middle-aged and older autistic adults and its associations with self-reported memory difficulties and cognitive decline.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2024Article
- Frequency of Single or Combined Anticholinergic Medication Usage as Potentially Inappropriate Medications among the Oldest-Old Age Subgroup.Psychiatry and clinical psychopharmacology · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAnticholinergic medication use is linked with increased cognitive decline, dementia, falls and mortality, and their use should be limited in older people. Here we estimate the prevalence of anticholinergic use in England's older population in 1991 and 2011, and describe changes in use by participant's age, sex, cognition and disability.
methodsWe compared data from participants aged 65+ years from the Cognitive Function and Ageing Studies (CFAS I and II), collected during 1990-1993 (N = 7635) and 2008-2011 (N = 7762). We estimated the prevalence of potent anticholinergic use (Anticholinergic Cognitive Burden [ACB] score = 3) and average anticholinergic burden (sum of ACB scores), using inverse probability weights standardised to the 2011 UK population. These were stratified by age, sex, Mini-Mental State Examination score, and activities of daily living (ADL) or instrumental ADL (IADL) disability.
resultsPrevalence of potent anticholinergic use increased from 5.7% (95% Confidence Interval [CI] 5.2-6.3%) of the older population in 1990-93 to 9.9% (9.3-10.7%) in 2008-11, adjusted odds ratio of 1.90 (95% CI 1.67-2.16). People with clinically significant cognitive impairment (MMSE [Mini Mental State Examination] 21 or less) were the heaviest users of potent anticholinergics in CFAS II (16.5% [95% CI 12.0-22.3%]). Large increases in the prevalence of the use medication with 'any' anticholinergic activity were seen in older people with clinically significant cognitive impairment (53.3% in CFAS I to 71.5% in CFAS II).
conclusionsUse of potent anticholinergic medications nearly doubled in England's older population over 20 years with some of the greatest increases amongst those particularly vulnerable to anticholinergic side-effects.
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Registered trials
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