A Preliminary Study of Anticholinergic Burden and Relationship to a Quality of Life Indicator, Engagement in Activities, in Nursing Home Residents With Dementia

Nursing home residents are prescribed many drugs with anticholinergic properties. The ACB Scale has utility as a tool to alert practitioners to high anticholinergic burden, who can then use this information when choosing between equally efficacious medications. Further study using larger samples of persons with dementia in earlier stages of the disease, and use of intense measurement designs are needed to more clearly determine the association of ACB with quality of life indicators.