OBJECTIVES To determine whether the use of medications with possible and definite anticholinergic activity increases the risk of cognitive impairment and mortality in older people and whether risk is cumulative. DESIGN A 2-year longitudinal study of participants enrolled in the Medical Research Council Cognitive Function and Ageing Study between 1991 and 1993. SETTING Community-dwelling and...

OBJECTIVE The authors' goals were 1) to establish a clinically useful standard index of the relative anticholinergic potency of psychiatric medications; 2) to determine which cognitive functions are most affected by the administration of anticholinergic medications to patients with schizophrenia; and 3) to compare in vitro and clinically derived indexes of anticholinergic load in predicting the...

More elderly patients now undergo gastrointestinal endoscopy following recent advances in endoscopic techniques. In this study, we conducted a high-risk survey of endoscopies in Japan, using a questionnaire administered prior to upper gastrointestinal tract endoscopy (UGITE), and identified anticholinergic agents and glucagon preparations as high-risk premedication. We also evaluated the cardio...

OBJECTIVE to examine the effect of medications with anticholinergic effects on cognitive impairment and deterioration in Alzheimer's dementia (AD). METHODS cognitive function was measured at baseline and at 6- and 18-month follow-up using the Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE), the Severe Impairment Battery (SIB) and the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Battery, Cognitive subsection (ADAS-COG) in a ...

cortical activity through activation of muscarinic receptors. Brain regions containing cholinergic neurons include the nucleus basalis of Meynert (NBM) and the medial septal nuclei (MSN), which send diffuse projections to cortex.1-3 Brains of patients with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) exhibit loss of cholinergic neurons in the NBM and MSN.4 These findings have lent considerable support to the choli...

OBJECTIVE To assess the potential of anticholinergic drugs as a cause of non-degenerative mild cognitive impairment in elderly people. DESIGN Longitudinal cohort study. SETTING 63 randomly selected general practices in the Montpellier region of southern France. PARTICIPANTS 372 people aged > 60 years without dementia at recruitment. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Anticholinergic burden from drug...

OBJECTIVES To compare the effect of using different anticholinergic drug scales and different models of cognitive decline in longitudinal studies. DESIGN Longitudinal cohort study. SETTING Outpatient clinics, Quebec, Canada. PARTICIPANTS Individuals aged 60 and older without dementia or depression (n = 102). MEASUREMENTS Using baseline and 1-year follow-up data, four measures of anticho...