Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37701889›Full record

ReviewTherapeutic advances in psychopharmacology2023

The past, present and future of anticholinergic drugs.

David Healy

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Therapeutic advances in psychopharmacology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Moving beyond 5-HTPsychopharmacology · 2026
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author.

David HealyData Based Medicine Americas Ltd., 95 Sandringham Drive, Toronto, ON, M3H 1E1 Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6340-9247

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

In current medical practice, it is difficult to find any reports claiming that drugs that are primarily anticholinergic or those that have significant anticholinergic effects have any therapeutic benefits. These drugs fell into disrepute within the mental health field from the mid-1960s onwards, and their supposed problems extended to elsewhere in medicine after that. There is considerable evidence that this disrepute stemmed more from marketing copy rather than from hard clinical trial data. Many apparent reviews appear to repeat prior claims rather than present substantial or new evidence. This article offers a perspective rather than a systematic review as there is little evidence other than claims to review. The aim is to challenge the conventional narrative that anticholinergic effects are uniquely hazardous by pointing to the uncertain basis for claims about the harms of anticholinergic drugs, antimuscarinic drugs in particular, ending with pointers to recent research that, if realized, might underpin important possible future benefits.

Indexed as

anticholinergic drugscognitive burdenconfusiondeliriantsdeprescribingperipheral neuropathy

Identifiers

PMID37701889
PMCPMC10493060

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.