CRIDECO Anticholinergic Load Scale: An Updated Anticholinergic Burden Scale. Comparison with the ACB Scale in Spanish Individuals with Subjective Memory Complaints.

Data de publicació: 03/02/2022 Data Ahead of Print: 03/02/2022

Autors de IIS La Fe

• Lucrecia Moreno Royo

  Autor

• 

  Jordi Perez Tur

  Autor

• 

  Consuelo Cháfer Pericás

  Autor

• Gemma María García Lluch

  Autor

Autors aliens a IIS La Fe

• Ramos H
• Pardo J

Grups d'Investigació

• Grupo de Investigación en Enfermedad de Alzheimer (GINEA)

  

  Investigador Principal

  Miguel Baquero Toledo

Abstract

The increase in life expectancy has also been accompanied by an increase in the use of medication to treat chronic diseases. Polypharmacy is associated with medication-related problems such as the increase in the anticholinergic burden. Older people are more susceptible to anticholinergic effects on the central nervous system and this, in turn, may be related to cognitive impairment. In this paper, we develop an updated anticholinergic burden scale, the CRIDECO Anticholinergic Load Scale (CALS) via a systematic review of the literature and compare it with the currently most used Anticholinergic Burden Scale (ACB). Our new scale includes 217 different drugs with anticholinergic properties, 129 more than the ACB. Given the effect that anticholinergic medications have on cognitive performance, we then used both scales to investigate the relationship between anticholinergic burden and cognitive impairment in adult Spanish subjects with subjective memory complaint. In our population, we observed an association between cognitive impairment and the anticholinergic burden when measured by the new CALS, but not when the ACB was applied. The use of a more comprehensive and upgraded scale will allow better discrimination of the risk associated with the use of anticholinergic medications on cognitive impairment. CALS can help raise awareness among clinicians of the problems associated with the use of medications, or combinations of them, with large anticholinergic effect, and promote a better personalized pharmacological approach for each patient.

Keywords

• anticholinergic burden scale, anticholinergic drug, cognitive impairment, subjective memory complaint