Anticholinergic burden and incident dementia: a Swedish nationwide case-control study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Cumulative exposure to multiple drugs with anticholinergic properties, known as anticholinergic burden, has been linked to dementia risk. We aimed to thoroughly assess this relationship by examining not only anticholinergic potency, cumulative dose, and drug class, but also dementia subtype and severity.

Methods

This Swedish nationwide case-control study included 199,526 individuals aged ≥ 40 years with incident dementia between July 2008 and December 2017, with 1:1 matched controls based on age, sex, and region of residence. Each case-control group was allocated an identical drug exposure period. Using the Anticholinergic Cognitive Burden (ACB) scale, we separately calculated the total defined daily doses (DDDs) of drugs with weak (ACB score of 1) and strong anti

SUBMITTER: Zhu N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12538848 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature