ArticlePharmacotherapy2022
Anticholinergic medication burden and cognitive function in participants of the ASPREE study.
Article in Pharmacotherapy, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed.
- Anticholinergic Burden and Progression to Kidney Replacement Therapy.Kidney international reports · 2026Article
- Unveiling the Limits of Anticholinergic Burden Scales: A Study of Adverse Drug Reactions in the French Pharmacovigilance Database.Drug safety · 2026Article
- Real-world persistence of vibegron in patients aged ≥ 80 years with overactive bladder: a multicenter cohort study.World journal of urology · 2026Observational
- Associations of anticholinergic burden of medication with cognitive decline and longitudinal brain atrophy in the Alzheimer's disease spectrum.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2026Article
- Cholinergic system in patients with chronic kidney disease: cognitive and renal implications.Nephrology, dialysis, transplantation : official publication of the European Dialysis and Transplant Association - European Renal Association · 2025Review
- The Impact of Real-world Use of Overactive Bladder Medications on Dementia Risk in Younger Adults.European urology open science · 2025Article
- 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
- The relationship between anticholinergic drug burden and clinical frailty in urinary incontinence patients.Revista da Associacao Medica Brasileira (1992) · 2025Article
- Anticholinergic Medication Burden and Cognitive Subtypes in Parkinson's Disease without Dementia.Archives of clinical neuropsychology : the official journal of the National Academy of Neuropsychologists · 2024Article
- Drugs with a negative impact on cognitive functions (Part 2): drug classes to consider while prescribing in CKD patients.Clinical kidney journal · 2023Review
- The adjusted impact of different severities of acute exacerbations and medications on the risk of developing dementia in COPD patients.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2023Article
- Anticholinergic and Sedative Medications Are Associated With Neurocognitive Performance of Well Treated People With Human Immunodeficiency Virus.Open forum infectious diseases · 2022Article
- Factors influencing the outcome of integrated therapy approach in schizophrenia: A narrative review of the literature.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Review
- Epigenetic age acceleration and cognitive performance over time in older adults.Alzheimer's & dementia (Amsterdam, Netherlands)Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
Abstract
STUDY
objectiveWhat is the association between anticholinergic burden and specific domains of cognitive function in older adults who are initially without major cognitive impairment?
designPost-hoc analysis of longitudinal observational data from the ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly (ASPREE) study. PATIENTS: 19,114 participants from Australia and the United States aged 70 years and older (65 years and older for US minorities) were recruited and followed for a median of 4.7 years. At enrollment, participants were free of known cardiovascular disease, major physical disability, or dementia. MEASUREMENTS: Cognitive assessments administered at baseline and biennially at follow-up visits included the Modified Mini-Mental State examination (3MS), Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised (HVLT-R) delayed recall, Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT), and Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT). Anticholinergic burden was calculated at baseline using the Anticholinergic Cognitive Burden (ACB) scale and grouped as scores of 0 (no burden), 1-2 (low to moderate), or 3+ (high). MAIN
resultsLinear mixed effects models were used to assess the relationship between ACB score and cognition over time. After adjusting for sex, age, education, minority status, smoking status, hypertension, diabetes, depression, chronic kidney disease, country, and frailty, participants with a high ACB score had worse performance over time for 3MS (Adjusted [Adj] B=-0.092, P=0.034), HVLT-R delayed recall (Adj B=-0.104, P<0.001), COWAT (Adj B=-0.151, P<0.001), and SDMT (Adj B=-0.129, P=0.026), than participants with an ACB score of 0. A low to moderate ACB score was also associated with worse performance over time for HVLT-R delayed recall (Adj B=-0.037, P=0.007) and COWAT (Adj B=-0.065, P=0.003), compared to those with no ACB.
conclusionsAnticholinergic burden predicts worse cognitive function over time in initially dementia-free older adults, particularly for executive function (COWAT) and episodic memory (HVLT-R).
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