Relationship of the revised anticholinergic drug scale with cultured cell-based serum anticholinergic activity and cognitive measures in older adults with mild cognitive impairment or remitted depression.

OBJECTIVE

The Anticholinergic Drug Scale (ADS) is a commonly used measure of anticholinergic exposure. This study describes an expanded and revised version of the ADS (rADS) and its relationship with cultured cell-based serum anticholinergic activity (cSAA) and cognitive measures.

STUDY PARTICIPANTS

Adults aged 60 years and older with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), remitted major depressive disorder (rMDD), or both, participate in the Prevention of Alzheimer's Dementia with Cognitive Remediation plus Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (PACt-MD) study.

STUDY DESIGN

Cross-sectional investigation of data from the PACt-MD study.

MEASURES

The rADS includes ratings for 1047 distinct products, about twice as many as the originally published scale; previously published ratings were revised for 40 drugs. Total rADS scores were calculated as sums of ratings of all drugs taken by participants; cSAA was measured in the participants' sera; cognitive performance included measures of executive function, language, processing speed, verbal memory, visuospatial memory, working memory, and an overall composite score.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

The relationship between rADS total scores and cSAA was examined using a Spearman rank correlation coefficient. Relationships between rADS total scores and cognitive performance measures were explored in multivariable linear regression models.

RESULTS

The sample included 310 participants (mean [standard deviation] age: 72 (6) years; 61.6% were women, and 81.6% had MCI [with or without rMDD]). Total rADS scores were positively correlated with cSAA (Spearman's correlation coefficient: 0.178, p = 0.0016). Total rADS scores were not significantly associated with cognitive performance.

CONCLUSIONS

The revised scale is recommended as a replacement for the original ADS since it includes ratings for more drugs and was significantly, albeit weakly, associated with cSAA, similar to previous findings using the original ADS.