ArticleAge and ageing2023
The extent of anticholinergic burden across an older Welsh population living with frailty: cross-sectional analysis of general practice records.
Article in Age and ageing, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 7 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prevalence and factors associated with anticholinergic medication use in community-dwelling older adults: a systematic review.International journal of clinical pharmacy · 2025Pooled it
- 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
- A consolidated framework for implementation research (CFIR) informed exploration of a primary care intervention to support deprescribing for problematic polypharmacy in older adults living with frailty (DEPPLOY) in England: a qualitative study.International journal of clinical pharmacy · 2026Article
- Nonlinear Associations Between Frailty and Medication Burden in Hospitalized Older Adults.Geriatrics & gerontology international · 2026Article
- Medication Use by Older Adults with Frailty: A Scoping Review.Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAnticholinergic medicines are associated with adverse outcomes for older people. However, little is known about their use in frailty. The objectives were to (i) investigate the prevalence of anticholinergic prescribing for older patients, and (ii) examine anticholinergic burden according to frailty status.
methodsCross-sectional analysis of Welsh primary care data from the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage databank including patients aged ≥65 at their first GP consultation between 1 January and 31 December 2018. Frailty was identified using the electronic Frailty Index and anticholinergic burden using the Anticholinergic Cognitive Burden (ACB) scale. Descriptive analysis and logistic regression were conducted to (i) describe the type and frequency of anticholinergics prescribed; and (ii) to estimate the association between frailty and cumulative ACB score (ACB-Sum).
resultsIn this study of 529,095 patients, 47.4% of patients receiving any prescription medications were prescribed at least one anticholinergic medicine. Adjusted regression analysis showed that patients with increasing frailty had higher odds of having an ACB-Sum of >3 compared with patients who were fit (mild frailty, adj OR 1.062 (95%CI 1.061-1.064), moderate frailty, adj OR 1.134 (95%CI 1.131-1.136), severe frailty, adj OR 1.208 (95%CI 1.203-1.213)).
conclusionsAnticholinergic prescribing was high in this older population. Older people with advancing frailty are exposed to the highest anticholinergic burden despite being the most vulnerable to the associated adverse effects. Older people with advancing frailty should be considered for medicines review to prevent overaccumulation of anticholinergic medications, given the risks of functional and cognitive decline that frailty presents.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.