Does increasing total anticholinergic burden increase the risk of cognitive impairment and health care utilization in a diverse ambulatory older adult population?
Higher anticholinergic burden is associated with increased cognitive impairment and healthcare utilization in older adults.
Increasing total ACB score was correlated with an increased risk for cognitive impairment and more frequent health care utilization. Future work should study interventions that safely reduce ACB and evaluate the impact on brain health and health care costs.
Campbell et al. (2016) studied this question.