Anticholinergic Medications and Cognitive Function in Late Midlife

Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord. 2018 Jul-Sep;32(3):262-264. doi: 10.1097/WAD.0000000000000251.

Abstract

We investigated the cross-sectional association between anticholinergics and cognitive function in persons aged ≥ 50 years. Participants underwent neurological examination, neuropsychological testing and were classified into two groups: Those taking (AC+, N = 51) versus not taking anticholinergics (AC−, N = 204). AC+ were comparable to AC− participants by age, sex and education. There was a trend for worse performance in all memory and most executive function tests for AC+, but only the difference in the Paced Auditory Serial Attention Task 2 was significant. There was no dose-effect relationship between anticholinergic use and cognitive test scores. Results were not impacted by APOE ε4 status. In conclusion, we observed a significant difference between AC+ and AC− groups in only one measure of executive function. Thus anticholinergic medications do not appear to impact cognition in this relatively younger sample of late mid-life individuals. A longitudinal study is needed to confirm these findings.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Cholinergic Antagonists / administration & dosage*
  • Cholinergic Antagonists / adverse effects
  • Cognition / drug effects*
  • Cognition / physiology
  • Cognitive Dysfunction / chemically induced*
  • Cognitive Dysfunction / genetics
  • Cohort Studies
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Neuropsychological Tests / statistics & numerical data

Substances

  • Cholinergic Antagonists