CONTEXT The cognitive side effects of medications with anticholinergic activity have been documented among older adults in a variety of clinical settings. However, there has been no systematic confirmation that acute or chronic prescribing of such medications lead to transient or permanent adverse cognitive outcomes. OBJECTIVE Evaluate the existing evidence regarding the effects of anticholin...

Anticholinergic medications such as Trihexyphenidyl; Biperidine are widely prescribed to prevent or to treat extrapyramidal side effects produced by neuroleptic drugs. Concomitant use of anticholinergic drugs is more common with the first generation antipsychotic medications. There is a considerable body of data suggesting that anticholinergic drugs have a potential of abuse. In this article, w...

OBJECTIVES To explore the association between the number of physicians providing care and anticholinergic drug burden in older persons newly initiated on cholinesterase inhibitor therapy for the management of dementia. DESIGN Population-based cross-sectional study. SETTING Community and long-term care, Ontario, Canada. PARTICIPANTS Community-dwelling (n = 79,067, mean age 81.0, 60.8% fema...

One characteristic neuropathological feature of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is profound neuronal loss in the nucleus basalis of Meynert, the major source of cholinergic innervation of the cerebral cortex. Clinically, anticholinergic activity causes a decline in cognitive function and increases the risk of dementia, thus possibly enhancing AD pathologies and neurodegeneration. Until now there has b...

OBJECTIVES (1) To describe the anticholinergic burden experienced by nursing home residents with dementia using the Anticholinergic Cognitive Burden (ACB) Scale; and (2) to determine the association of anticholinergic burden and engagement in activity. DESIGN Cross-sectional, using baseline data from an ongoing clinical trial. SETTING Nine nursing homes in Pennsylvania. PARTICIPANTS Eight...

The results are reported of a trial in which 34 patients receiving a stable dose of levodopa for the treatment of idiopathic Parkinsonism, as well as anticholinergic drugs which they had been taking before the introduction of levodopa, underwent withdrawal of their anticholinergic remedies. Withdrawal was gradual over four weeks in 17 patients (group 1) and abrupt in the remaining 17 (group 2)....

Among a population of 75 hospitalised Parkinsonian subjects, confusional states were observed in 46% of demented patients not receiving anticholinergic drugs and in 93% of demented patients under anticholinergic therapy. The sensitivity of demented Parkinsonians to anticholinergic drugs can be attributed to a cholinergic deficiency which has been detected in the cortex and hippocampus of Parkin...

BACKGROUND Delirium may complicate the hospital course and adversely impact remaining quality of life for palliative care inpatients. Medications with anticholinergic properties have been linked to delirium within elderly populations via serum anticholinergic assays. AIM The aim of this study is to determine whether increasing anticholinergic burden, as measured using a clinical assessment to...

PURPOSE Previous studies suggest an association between use of anticholinergic drugs in elderly patients and cognitive impairment. However, there are still limited data on the association of anticholinergic drug use and cognitive impairment as well as contribution of individual drugs to anticholinergic load using large, well-documented patient cohorts treated in geriatric units from Europe. M...