Midlife anticholinergic drug use, risk of Alzheimer's disease, and brain atrophy in community-dwelling older adults.

ABSTRACT: INTRODUCTION:We examined how long-term anticholinergic (AC) drug use beginning at midlife affects risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and rates of brain atrophy in cognitively normal older adults. METHODS:We followed 723 individuals (mean baseline age 52.3 years; mean follow-up interval 20.1 years) in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. The AC drug exposure was defined using the Anticholinergic Cognitive Burden Scale: Nonusers (n = 404), as well as participants exposed to medications with AC activity but without known clinically relevant negative cognitive effects (i.e., "possible AC users"; n = 185) and those exposed to AC drugs with established and clinically relevant negative cognitive effects (i.e., "definite AC users"; n = 134). The neuroimaging sample included 93 participants who

SUBMITTER: Chuang YF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5651434 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature