Assessment of Anticholinergic Burden in Community Pharmacy Patients
Abstract
Introduction. Anticholinergic burden is the cumulative effect of one or more drugs with anticholinergic action. The drug burden index measures exposure to drugs with anticholinergic and sedative effects. Objectives. To compile a list of drugs marketed in Spain with anticholinergic and sedative effects. To study the association between the World Health Organization drug burden index and physical and cognitive impairment in older people. To evaluate the effectiveness of the data collection and processing method. Materials and Methods. BOTPLUS was used to create the list of drugs. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with 92 patients over the age of 64. The World Health Organization drug burden index was calculated and its relationship with clinical parameters was evaluated. Results. The list contains 208 drugs. 651 medications were evaluated, 145 had the studied effect. Discussion. Prevalence of drug burden index >1 of 29.3%. 82.6% of patients were polymedicated. No statistically significant relationship was found between drug burden index >1 and physical and cognitive impairment. Conclusion. A list of drugs was compiled to calculate the World Health Organization drug burden index using a tool available in community pharmacies. 69.6% of the population studied is exposed to these drugs. No statistically significant association was found between drug burden index and the parameters studied. The method of data collection and processing in the database proved to be effective.
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