Anti-cholinergic drug burden in patients with dementia increases after hospital admission: a multicentre cross-sectional study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Anticholinergic medications are drugs that block cholinergic transmission, either as their primary therapeutic action or as a secondary effect. Patients with dementia may be particularly sensitive to the central effects of anticholinergic drugs. Anticholinergics also antagonise the effects of the main dementia treatment, cholinesterase inhibitors. Our study aimed to investigate anticholinergic prescribing for dementia patients in UK acute hospitals before and after admission.

Methods

We included 352 patients with dementia from 17 UK hospital sites in 2019. They were all inpatients on surgical, medical or Care of the Elderly wards. Information about each patient's medications were collected using a standardised form, and the anticholinergic drug burden of each pati

SUBMITTER: Hook A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9541078 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature