Interventions to reduce anticholinergic burden in adults aged 65 and older: A systematic review

Nakham, Athagran, Myint, Phyo K., Bond, Christine M., Newlands, Rumana, Loke, Yoon K. and Cruickshank, Moira (2020) Interventions to reduce anticholinergic burden in adults aged 65 and older: A systematic review. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 21 (2). pp. 172-180. ISSN 1525-8610

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Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Older age is associated with multimorbidity and polypharmacy with high anticholinergic burden (ACB). High ACB is linked to adverse events such as poor physical functioning, dementia, cardiovascular disease, and falls. Interventions are needed to reduce this burden. AIMS/OBJECTIVES: The aim was to systematically review the literature to identify and describe studies of clinical and cost-effectiveness of interventions designed to reduce ACB in adults (≥65 years) on polypharmacy regimes, compared with usual care. The objective was to answer the following questions: What are the contents of the interventions? Were these interventions clinically effective? Were these interventions cost effective?. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Systematic review of interventions to reduce anticholinergic burden in adults aged 65 and older in any clinical setting. METHODS: Eligible papers reported primary or secondary research describing any type of intervention including systematic reviews, randomized controlled trials (RCTs), controlled clinical trials, or nonrandomized pre-post intervention studies (PPIs) published in English from January 2010 to February 2019. Databases searched included CINAHL, Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE, and The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL). RESULTS: The search yielded 5862 records. Eight studies (4 RCTs, 4 PPIs) conducted in hospital (4), community (2), nursing homes (1), and retirement villages (1) met the inclusion criteria. Pharmacists, either individually or as part of a team, provided the intervention in the majority of studies (6/8). Most (7/8) involved individual patient medication review followed by feedback to the prescriber. Two of the 4 RCTs and all non-RCTs reported a decrease in ACB following the intervention. No study reported cost outcome. CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS: Pharmacists may be well placed to implement an ACB reduction intervention. This is the first systematic review of interventions to reduce ACB in older adults, and it highlights the need for development and testing of high-quality pragmatic clinical and cost-effectiveness trials in community and specific patient populations at high risk of harm from ACB. [PROSPERO registration: CRD42018089764].

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: Copyright © 2019 AMDA – The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Uncontrolled Keywords: intervention,anticholinergic burden,inappropriate prescribing,older adult,nursing(all),health policy,geriatrics and gerontology,sdg 3 - good health and well-being ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2900
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Health Services and Primary Care
Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Norwich Epidemiology Centre
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Norwich Epidemiology Centre
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Population Health
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Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 23 Oct 2019 13:30
Last Modified: 19 Oct 2023 02:30
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/72753
DOI: 10.1016/j.jamda.2019.06.001

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