Tsoutsoulas, 2017 Anticholinergic Burden and Cognition in Older Patients With Schizophrenia

[Shep]

Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 2017.  10.4088/JCP.17m11523

 

Anticholinergic Burden and Cognition in Older Patients With Schizophrenia

 

Christopher Tsoutsoulas, BSc (Hons); Benoit H. Mulsant, MD, MS; Sanjeev Kumar, MD; Zaid Ghazala, MBBS; Aristotle N. Voineskos, MD, PhD; Mahesh Menon, PhD; Bruce G. Pollock, MD, PhD; and Tarek K. Rajji, MD

 

Source: Journal of Clinical Psychiatry

 

Anticholinergic Burden and Cognition in Older Patients With Schizophrenia

 

Objective: Older individuals with schizophrenia are at risk of being treated with anticholinergic medications due to the prevalence of medical comorbidities and polypharmacy. High anticholinergic burden impairs cognition and is a risk factor for Alzheimer’s dementia. Thus, we assessed the impact of anticholinergic burden on Alzheimer’s dementia–related and schizophrenia-related cognitive functions in older patients with schizophrenia.

 

Conclusions: High anticholinergic burden contributes to specific cognitive deficits in older individuals with schizophrenia that resemble those commonly observed early in the course of Alzheimer’s dementia. The ACB [Anticholinergic Cognitive Burden] is a potentially useful screening tool that can help identify patients at risk of developing anticholinergic-related cognitive impairment.

 

This article was written up over on the Mad in America site:

 

Anticholinergic Medications Linked to Dementia Similar to Early Alzheimer’s