Which anticholinergics are linked to dementia risk?
3rd May 2018
By Amanda Davey
Certain classes of anticholinergic drugs are linked to increased risk of dementia up to 20 years after exposure, a large analysis of older adults has found.
In the case-control study, researchers matched more than 40,000 older adults with dementia to 280,000 controls without the disease.
About one-third of people in each group were prescribed an anticholinergic drug, with evidence of a dose-response effect found with highly anticholinergic drugs.
In particular, the results show that exposure to antiparkinson drugs, some antidepressants (amitriptyline, dosulepin and