Prevalence of Anticholinergics in Geriatric Patients With Acute Functional Deterioration
For patients and families
In plain language
An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.
- What is being studied
- The protocol lists: No intervention as the study is observational.
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Frailty in Older Adults, Functional Decline, Anticholinergic Syndrome. Basic parameters: No limits · All.
- What needs checking
- Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
- Where it takes place
- Denmark
- Next step
- Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →
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Overview
This study investigates the anticholinergic burden on patients seen in the Subacute mobile outpatient geriatric clinic in Aalborg, Denmark, between the years of 2024 and 2025. The age demographic in Denmark and multiple other countries is changing rapidly, with more old and very old individuals as a result. As humans become older, they tend to accumulate more illnesses, and the risk of polypharmacy increases. There is a wide selection of medicine that affect the binding of acetylcholine to the muscarinic receptors, which is either the intended function of the pharmacological product or a side effect. Since there is no built-in feature in computer systems used by doctors to calculate the cumulative anticholinergic burden, it is often not recognized, thus not reflected upon. This raises concerns about potential central and peripheral side effects, such as altered mental status, visual disturbances, tachycardia, urinary and fecal retention, dry skin etc. The study aims to determine the prevalence of anticholinergics in the last 100 patients seen by the Subacute mobile outpatient geriatric clinic in Aalborg University Hospital. The patients are placed in municipal extended-care facilities. Furthermore, the study will investigate the prevalence of anticholinergic side effects concerning the burden on this population. The study is a retrospective chart review of patient charts from the years of 2024 and 2025, analyzing patient characteristics, comorbidities, medication lists, and calculating the anticholinergic burden through the ACB calculator.
Interventions
- Other No intervention as the study is observational
As this is an observation study, participants are not assigned an intervention as part of the study
Primary outcome measures
- Prevalence of anticholinergics [Time frame: Day 1. That is on the day of patients first contact with the subacute outpatient geratric function at Aalborg Unviversity Hospital]
Secondary outcome measures (2)
- Prevalence of central side effects [Time frame: On the day of patients first contact with the subacute outpatient geratric function at Aalborg Unviversity Hospital]
- Prevalence of peripheral anticholinergic side effects [Time frame: On the day of patients first contact with the subacute outpatient geratric function at Aalborg Unviversity Hospital]
Eligibility criteria
Inclusion criteria
- patients seen by the Subacute outpatient geriatric clinic at Aalborg University hospital, Denmark, between 2024 and 2025.
- Consecutive sampling starting with the most recent patient chart and going backwards.
- Inclusion is based on chart review and all patients are therefore included consecutively.
Exclusion criteria
- None
Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.
Healthy volunteers: No
Study design
- Observational model
- Case-control
Study locations
Denmark · 1 center
- Department of Geriatric Medicine, Aalborg University Hospital — Aalborg
Identifiers
NCT: NCT07165574 · 1-45-72-442-25