Anticholinergic Drug Scale (ADS)

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the association between anticholinergic drug burden (ADB), measured with anticholinergic drug scales, and delirium and delirium severity. DESIGN: Systematic review. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: All available studies. METHODS: A systematic literature search was performed in Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, Web of Science, CINAHL, Cochrane library, and Google Scholar. Studies evaluating the association between ADB (measured as a total score) and delirium or delirium severity, published in English, were eligible for inclusion...

BACKGROUND: Anticholinergic drugs may increase the risk of delirium in non-critically ill patients, but it is unclear whether exposure to these drugs is also a risk factor for Intensive Care Unit (ICU) delirium. In this study the hypothesis was tested that anticholinergic drug exposure at ICU admission increases the risk to develop delirium during ICU stay, particularly in patients with advanced age and severe sepsis. METHODS: A prospective cohort study was performed in the mixed 32-bed medical-surgical ICU of the University Medical Center Utrecht, the Netherlands in the period from January 2011 till June 2013...

AIM: Older patients with chronic hepatitis C infection starting direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) are frequently prescribed multiple medications that may be categorized as inappropriate. Anticholinergic burden has been shown to be a predictor of adverse health and functional outcomes. Different scales are available to calculate anticholinergic burden. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of anticholinergic medication among older patients treated with DAAs and the risk factors associated using the Anticholinergic Cognitive Burden (ACB) scale, the Anticholinergic Risk Scale (ARS) and the Anticholinergic Drug Scale (ADS) and analyze the resulting safety consequences...

We previously reported that anticholinergic (AC) drug use increases with age in the elderly Japanese population. In this analysis, we investigated attribution for each AC drug type to total AC burden using different elderly age groups. Prescription records (from 09/23/2015 to 12/31/2016) for outpatients using any AC were extracted from pharmacy claims (primary source) and hospital-based databases. AC burden (number of AC drugs and AC score) and AC type were assessed using the Anticholinergic Cognitive Burden (ACB) scale, Anticholinergic Drug Scale (ADS), Anticholinergic Risk Scale (ARS), and Beers criteria...

BACKGROUND: Older adults are especially susceptible to adverse effects of inappropriate medication therapy, and anticholinergic medications are common culprits for cognitive dysfunction due to their action on the central nervous system. Medication therapy management (MTM) interventions can aid in deprescribing and reducing inappropriate medication use in older adults. However, there is sparse literature on the long-term sustainability of these interventions. OBJECTIVES: To (a) investigate whether the deprescribing of anticholinergic medications during an 8-week randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a targeted MTM intervention is sustained at 1-year postintervention follow-up and (b) compare anticholinergic utilization trends in the study population with a large sample of similar individuals not exposed to the intervention...

OBJECTIVE: Falls and bone fractures are important causes of morbidity and mortality in the elderly. The objective of this study was to identify the degree of consistency between the anticholinergic scales used for patients diagnosed with fractures. METHODS: This was an analytical agreement study conducted in patients diagnosed with vertebral and nonvertebral fractures in Colombia. The quadratic-weighted kappa coefficient was used to identify the consistency between the Anticholinergic Drug Scale-ADS, Anticholinergic Cognitive Burden Scale-ACB and Anticholinergic Risk Scale-ARS in assessing the prescriptions of fracture patients during the month prior to the fracture, during their stay as an inpatient and at discharge, according to Landis criteria...

Background: The Beers Criteria is used as a reference to identify potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) prescribed to older people, and anticholinergic risk measurement scales (ARMSs) have been continuously made for measuring the anticholinergic burden. This study aimed to evaluate the concordance between any anticholinergics among PIMs identified by the Beers Criteria and those assessed by 9 different ARMSs. Methods: This study was retrospectively conducted with Korean older patients hospitalized in the long-term care facility between March 2014 and August 2015...

BACKGROUND: Postoperative delirium (POD) is a common complication after surgery. OBJECTIVE: We sought to determine the association between preoperative anticholinergic load calculated using the anticholinergic drug scale (ADS) and POD in cancer patients over 65 years of age. DESIGN: A retrospective sub-investigation of a randomised controlled interventional trial. SETTING: Two tertiary university hospitals. PATIENTS: Overall, patients aged 65 years and older scheduled for surgical treatment of gastrointestinary, genitourinary or gynaecological cancers...

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to explore the association between medication-associated anticholinergic burden and cognitive and daily living functions in patients with schizophrenia. METHODS: Sixty patients with schizophrenia were recruited. We used the Anticholinergic Drug Scale (ADS) for evaluating medication-associated anticholinergic burden. The MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB) and the University of California San Diego Performance-based Skills Assessment (UPSA) were used for evaluating cognitive and daily living functions...

BACKGROUND: Although the adverse cognitive effects of anticholinergic medications in the elderly are well-documented, little is known regarding the cognitive impact of anticholinergics among nursing home residents with depression. OBJECTIVE: This study examined the risk of mild-to-moderate cognitive impairment due to anticholinergic burden among elderly nursing home residents with depression. METHODS: A population-based nested case-control study was conducted using Minimum Data Set (MDS)-linked Medicare data where the base cohort included patients ≥ 65 years with depression who had intact cognition (MDS Cognition score of 0 or 1) and no dementia...

BACKGROUND: A high anticholinergic burden (AB) is associated with the occurrence of behavioral and psychological symptoms (BPSDs), which are frequent in dementia. OBJECTIVES: Our aim was to determine the threshold for a reduction in AB that would lead to a clinically significant improvement in BPSDs (in terms of frequency, severity, and disruptiveness). DESIGN: A single-center prospective study. SETTINGS: Dedicated geriatric care unit specializing in the management of patients with dementia...

Background There are several assessment scales to evaluate the risk of falls or the adverse drug reaction risk. Few are sufficiently specific to assess the impact of drug prescriptions on falls in geriatric populations. Objective To define the risk of anticholinergic and sedation-related ADRs in an elderly hospitalized patient population using the Drug Burden Index (DBI), Anticholinergic Drug Scale (ADS), and Sedative Load Model (SLM). Setting Five geriatric university hospital centers in France. Method Multicenter prospective cohort study from 2011 to 2013...

OBJECTIVE: The aim was to study whether the anticholinergic burden of drugs is related to xerostomia and salivary secretion among community-dwelling elderly people. BACKGROUND: Anticholinergic drugs have been shown to be a risk factor for dry mouth, but little is known about the effects of cumulative exposure to anticholinergic drugs measured by anticholinergic burden on salivary secretion or xerostomia. METHODS: The study population consisted of 152 community-dwelling, dentate, non-smoking, older people from the Oral Health GeMS study...

BACKGROUND: Drugs with anticholinergic properties may be associated with various adverse clinical effects. The relationship between the anticholinergic (AC) burden and functional, global cognitive performance and behavior disturbances was assessed among elderly patients. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted between January 2012 and June 2014 in a memory clinic among outpatients living at home and with subjective cognitive decline (SCD) or neurocognitive disorders (NCD)...

BACKGROUND: Few studies have evaluated the association between anticholinergic use and mortality in elderly nursing home residents. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine the risk of mortality associated with anticholinergic use among elderly nursing home residents with depression. METHODS: The study employed a population-based nested case-control design using 2007-2010 Minimum Data Set (MDS)-linked Medicare data from all states. The base cohort included Medicare beneficiaries aged ≥65 years, diagnosed with depression as of 2007, and with any MDS assessment in 2007...

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Reduced clinical effect on cognitive decline in dementia by acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEIs) may be due to concurrent use of drugs with anticholinergic properties. The aim was to analyze the incidence of AChEI use and comedication with drugs with anticholinergic properties and other potential unfavorable effects. METHODS: A prospective study applying drug use data from the Norwegian Prescription Database. Anticholinergic Drug Scale (ADS) scores were used as a measure of overall anticholinergic burden...

BACKGROUND: Patients with psychotic disorders are often treated with numerous medications, many of which have anticholinergic activity. We assessed cognition in relation to the cumulative anticholinergic burden of multiple drugs included in treatment regimens of participants from the Bipolar-Schizophrenia Network on Intermediate Phenotypes (B-SNIP) study. METHOD: Clinically stable participants with schizophrenia (n=206), schizoaffective disorder (n=131), and psychotic bipolar disorder (n=146) were examined...

BACKGROUND/AIM: In patients discharged from an Older Person's Health hospital, we assessed (i) the prevalence of anticholinergic medications (ACM) in this study population and (ii) changes in anticholinergic drug burden during admission using the Anticholinergic Drug Scale (ADS). METHODS: Cases were identified between September 2010 and January 2011 using discharge coding data. Clinical notes were reviewed to determine which regular oral medications were commenced, altered or ceased during admission with their respective ADS level...

PURPOSE: Adverse drug events (ADEs) lead to adverse clinical outcomes such as hospitalization. There is little information about the characteristics of ADEs in patients with advanced chronic conditions and have a prognosis of limited life expectancy. This study aimed to evaluate (i) the prevalence of ADEs at the time of admission to hospital, (ii) the causality, severity, and preventability of the ADEs, and (iii) the clinical and pharmacological characteristics associated with the ADEs...

BACKGROUND: Older people are commonly prescribed multiple medications, including medications with anticholinergic effects. Polypharmacy and anticholinergic medications may be risk factors for the development of delirium. METHODS: Patients from a medical admission unit who were over 70, with DSM-IV diagnosed delirium and patients without delirium, were investigated. Number of drugs prescribed on admission and anticholinergic burden using two scales (the Anticholinergic Cognitive Burden Scale [ACB] and the Anticholinergic Drug Scale [ADS]) were recorded from electronic prescribing records...