Association Between Anticholinergic Medication Use and Cognition, Brain Metabolism, and Brain Atrophy in Cognitively Normal Older Adults

Journal Article · Mon Apr 18 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · JAMA Neurology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1001/jamaneurol.2016.0580· OSTI ID:1379374

Risacher, Shannon L. ^[1]; McDonald, Brenna C. ^[1]; Tallman, Eileen F. ^[1]; West, John D. ^[1]; Farlow, Martin R. ^[1]; Unverzagt, Fredrick W. ^[1]; Gao, Sujuan ^[1]; Boustani, Malaz ^[2]; Crane, Paul K. ^[3]; Petersen, Ronald C. ^[4]; Jack, Clifford R. ^[4]; Jagust, William J. ^[5]; Aisen, Paul S. ^[6]; Weiner, Michael W. ^[7]; Saykin, Andrew J. ^[1]

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1. Indiana Univ. School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN (United States)
2. Indiana Univ. School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN (United States); Indiana Univ. Center for Aging Research, Indianapolis, IN (United States); Regenstrief Inst. Inc., Indianapolis, IN (United States); Eskenzai Health, Indianapolis, IN (United States)
3. Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)
4. Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN (United States)
5. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
6. Univ. of Southern California, San Diego, CA (United States)
7. Univ. of California, San Francisco, CA (United States); Dept. of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, San Francisco, CA (United States)

Importance of this Paper: The use of anticholinergic (AC) medication is linked to cognitive impairment and an increased risk of dementia. To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the association between AC medication use and neuroimaging biomarkers of brain metabolism and atrophy as a proxy for understanding the underlying biology of the clinical effects of AC medications. Objective: To assess the association between AC medication use and cognition, glucose metabolism, and brain atrophy in cognitively normal older adults from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) and the Indiana Memory and Aging Study (IMAS). Design, Setting, and Participants: The ADNI and IMAS are longitudinal studies with cognitive, neuroimaging, and other data collected at regular intervals in clinical and academic research settings. For the participants in the ADNI, visits are repeated 3, 6, and 12 months after the baseline visit and then annually. For the participants in the IMAS, visits are repeated every 18 months after the baseline visit (402 cognitively normal older adults in the ADNI and 49 cognitively normal older adults in the IMAS were included in the present analysis). Participants were either taking (hereafter referred to as the AC⁺ participants [52 from the ADNI and 8 from the IMAS]) or not taking (hereafter referred to as the AC^- participants [350 from the ADNI and 41 from the IMAS]) at least 1 medication with medium or high AC activity. Data analysis for this study was performed in November 2015. Main Outcomes and Measures: Cognitive scores, mean fludeoxyglucose F 18 standardized uptake value ratio (participants from the ADNI only), and brain atrophy measures from structural magnetic resonance imaging were compared between AC⁺ participants and AC^- participants after adjusting for potential confounders. The total AC burden score was calculated and was related to target measures. The association of AC use and longitudinal clinical decline (mean [SD] follow-up period, 32.1 [24.7] months [range, 6-108 months]) was examined using Cox regression. Results: The 52 AC⁺ participants (mean [SD] age, 73.3 [6.6] years) from the ADNI showed lower mean scores on Weschler Memory Scale–Revised Logical Memory Immediate Recall (raw mean scores: 13.27 for AC⁺ participants and 14.16 for AC^- participants; P = .04) and the Trail Making Test Part B (raw mean scores: 97.85 seconds for AC⁺ participants and 82.61 seconds for AC^- participants; P = .04) and a lower executive function composite score (raw mean scores: 0.58 for AC⁺ participants and 0.78 for AC^- participants; P = .04) than the 350 AC^- participants (mean [SD] age, 73.3 [5.8] years) from the ADNI. Reduced total cortical volume and temporal lobe cortical thickness and greater lateral ventricle and inferior lateral ventricle volumes were seen in the AC⁺ participants relative to the AC^- participants. Conclusions and Relevance of this Paper: The use of AC medication was associated with increased brain atrophy and dysfunction and clinical decline. Thus and finally, use of AC medication among older adults should likely be discouraged if alternative therapies are available.

• Research Organization: Indiana Univ. School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN (United States); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE; National Inst. of Health (NIH) (United States); USDOD
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-05CH11231; U01 AG024904; K01 AG049050; P30 AG10133; P30 AG010129; R01 AG19771; K01 AG030514; W81XWH-12-2-0012
• OSTI ID: 1379374
• Journal Information: JAMA Neurology, Vol. 73, Issue 6; ISSN 2168-6149
• Publisher: American Medical Association
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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