Disentangling drug contributions: anticholinergic burden in older adults linked to individual medications: a cross-sectional population-based study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Medications with potent anticholinergic properties have well-documented adverse effects. A high cumulative anticholinergic burden may arise from the concurrent use of multiple medications with weaker anticholinergic effects. We sought to identify patterns of high anticholinergic burden and associated patient characteristics.

Methods

We identified patients aged ≥ 65 who filled ≥ 1 medication with anticholinergic adverse effects in 2019 and had a cumulative Anticholinergic Burden score (ACB) ≥ 4 (i.e., high anticholinergic burden) in a large US health insurer. We classified patients based on how they attained high burden, as follows: 1) only filling strong or moderate anticholinergic medications (i.e., ACB = 2 or 3, "moderate/strong"), 2) only filling lightly antich

SUBMITTER: Bhatkhande G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10782746 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature