Journal
JOURNAL OF ALZHEIMERS DISEASE
Volume 65, Issue 2, Pages 607-616Publisher
IOS PRESS
DOI: 10.3233/JAD-171174
Keywords
Alzheimer's disease; cholinergic antagonists; neuritic plaques; neurofibrillary tangles; neuropathology
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Funding
- National Institute on Aging [U01AG006781, R03AG042930, P50AG05136]
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke [P50NS062684]
- Barton Family Foundation
- Nancy and Buster Alvord Endowment
- Branta Foundation
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Background: Anticholinergic medication exposure has been associated with increased risk for dementia. No study has examined the association between anticholinergic medication use and neuropathologic lesions in a community-based sample. Objective: To examine the relationship between anticholinergic exposure and dementia-related neuropathologic changes. Methods: Within a community-based autopsy cohort (N = 420), we ascertained use of anticholinergic medications over a 10-year period from automated pharmacy data and calculated total standardized daily doses (TSDD). We used modified Poisson regression to calculate adjusted relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the association between anticholinergic exposure and dementia-associated neuropathology. Inverse probability weighting was used to account for selection into the autopsy cohort. Results: Heavy anticholinergic exposure (>= 1,096 TSDD) was not associated with greater neuropathologic changes of Alzheimer's disease; the adjusted RRs for heavy use of anticholinergics (>= 1,096 TSDD) compared to no use were 1.22 (95% CI 0.81-1.88) for neuritic plaque scores and 0.89 (0.47-1.66) for extent of neurofibrillary degeneration. Moderate (91-1,095 TSDD) and heavy use of anticholinergics was associated with a significantly lower cerebral microinfarct burden compared with no use with adjusted RRs of 0.44 (0.21-0.89) and 0.24 (0.09-0.62), respectively. Anticholinergic exposure was not associated with macroscopic infarcts or atherosclerosis. Conclusions: Use of anticholinergic medications is not associated with Alzheimer's disease-related neuropathologic changes but is associated with lower cerebral microinfarct burden. Further research into biological mechanisms underlying the anticholinergic-dementia link is warranted.
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