Anticholinergic Drugs and Risk of Cognitive Impairment and Dementia

Topics: Alzheimers | Anticholinergic burden scale | Anticholinergics | Benzodiazepines | Cognitive Decline | Cognitive impairment | Dementia | Healthy aging | Pharmacotherapy

CHPR: Can you tell us about your research? Dr. Gray: My research uses large databases to examine medication safety issues in older adults with the goal of optimizing healthy aging. My focus is on examining medications and risk for dementia, falls, and fractures—the types of outcomes that are not easily addressed in randomized controlled trials. CH

Note From the Editor-in-Chief

Topics: Agitation | Anticholinergics | Cognitive functioning | Dementia | Geriatrics | Psychotherapy

One of the most challenging aspects of hospital psychiatry is the management of acute psychotic agitation. Sometimes we have little choice but to administer sedating medications to a combative patient who is putting others at risk of injury. Which medications work most quickly, safely, and effectively? Dr. Carlat and I combed through the literature to n