Loading
Life sciences · Journal article
Frontiers in Medicine · October 13, 2026
No summary has been generated for this record yet. What follows is drawn from its source metadata only.
Journal article.
No findings were extractable from the material analysed.
Safety was not reported in the material analysed. Check the source before drawing any conclusion about harm.
The source did not state who this applies to in practice.
Graded across the dimensions that decide whether you should act, each from what the source actually supports. There is no single score, and where a dimension was not assessed it says so.
This record has not been graded across any dimension yet. Treat the label above as provisional and read the source.
What is missing. This record has no bottom line, key findings, reported figures, evidence dimensions. That is a gap in the analysis, not a judgement about the study.
Background/objectives Anticholinergic medications are associated with cognitive impairment and falls in older adults, yet multicenter evidence from Saudi Arabia remains limited. This study characterized prescribing patterns and factors associated with definite anticholinergic burden among older adults receiving outpatient care. Methods This retrospective multicenter cross-sectional study used outpatient records and dispensing data from two tertiary hospitals located in Al Khobar and Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia, between 2019 and 2024. Adults aged 60 years or older receiving at least one medication scoring 2 or 3 on the Anticholinergic Cognitive Burden (ACB) scale were included. Robust linear, negative binomial, and logistic regression models examined definite ACB score, additional qualifying medications, and multiple medication use. Results The study included 1,664 older adults with 2016 patient-medication instances. Polypharmacy was present in 84.3%, and 17.5% received multiple qualifying medications. Bladder antimuscarinics, antipsychotics, and tricyclic antidepressants accounted for 78.1% of medication instances, while urology, psychiatry, and neurology accounted for 72.0%. A corresponding coded diagnosis was identified for 20.0% of evaluable instances. Polypharmacy, hypertension, depression, Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder were independently associated with all three outcomes. Schizophrenia showed the strongest associations with definite ACB score ( B = 2.206; 95% CI, 0.429–3.982), additional medications (incidence rate ratio = 4.395; 95% CI, 2.499–7.732), and multiple medication use (adjusted odds ratio = 8.303; 95% CI, 3.275–21.055). Conclusions Definite anticholinergic use was concentrated within a limited number of medication classes and prescribing specialties. Psychiatric disorders and polypharmacy were consistently associated with higher burden, supporting targeted medication review in these patients and specialties.