Open AccessANTICHOLINERGIC BURDEN IN DEMENTIA
Author(s) -
Carolina Rodrigue Formoso,
Raphael Machado Castilhos,
Wyllians Vendramini Borelli,
Matheus Zschornack Strelow,
Marcia Fagundes Chaves
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
dementia and neuropsychologia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Conference proceedings
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.54
H-Index - 21
ISSN - 1980-5764
DOI - 10.5327/1980-5764.rpda031
Subject(s) - dementia , anticholinergic , medicine , outpatient clinic , retrospective cohort study , memory clinic , medical diagnosis , medical record , physical therapy , disease , psychiatry , pathology
Background: The anticholinergic burden is associated with a greater risk of functional/ cognitive decline and morbidity/mortality. Objectives: Our aim was to quantify the anticholinergic burden in the first visit in our dementia tertiary outpatient clinic. Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of all first visit medical records of patients referred from primary health care to the outpatient dementia clinic of a tertiary hospital in Porto Alegre with a final diagnosis of dementia or Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) between 2014-2019. We evaluated all medications in use and we calculated a final score using Brazilian Anticholinergic Activity Drug (BAAD) score. This scale classified drugs according to its central anticholinergic activity from 1 to 3, with higher values indicating greater activity. The final score is the sum of the score for each drug. We divided the sample in two groups (score=0 and ⩾ 1) and performed a logist regression using age, sex, dementia diagnosis and MMSE as covariates. Results: We identified 199 final diagnoses of dementia (mostly Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) [45.2%]) and 39 of MCI. Most patients with dementia (76.4%) and MCI (74.3%) had at least a BAAD score = 1. Median (IQI) BAAD score was higher in VD, 4 (1.0-6.5). In the regression analysis, BAAD score was associated with MMSE, controlling for covariates. Conclusions: In our sample, the anticholinergic burden was high and correlated with dementia severity.