Development of a pharmacological evidence-based anticholinergic burden scale for medications commonly used in older adults.

Aim: The present study aimed to develop a pharmacological evidence-based anticholinergic burden scale (ABS) through a direct assessment of muscarinic receptor-binding activities of 260 medications commonly used in older adults.

Methods: The muscarinic receptor-binding activities of 260 drugs were assessed by the displacement of specific [N-methyl- H]scopolamine methyl chloride binding in the rat brain. The maximum blood concentrations (C ) of drugs after their administration to subjects were cited from their interview forms.

Results: In total, 96 of 260 drugs displayed concentration-dependent muscarinic receptor binding in rat brain. Based on muscarinic receptor-binding activity (IC ) and C after the administration at clinical doses in humans, we rated ABS 3 (strong) for 33 drugs and ABS 2 (moderate) for 37 drugs. There was an approximate similarity between muscarinic receptor-binding activities (IC ) and C of 33 drugs (ABS 3) after their administration at clinical doses in humans. Furthermore, 26 drugs were defined as ABS 1 (weak) by muscarinic receptor-binding activity. The remaining 164 drugs exhibited slight or no significant muscarinic receptor-binding activities at high concentration of 100 μM, and they were defined as ABS 0. There was a marked similarity for 28 drugs (ABS 3) between the present ABS data and their previous scoring data in the literature.

Conclusions: To our knowledge, the present study developed the first comprehensive pharmacological evidence-based ABS of drugs based on muscarinic receptor-binding activity, which provides guidance as to which drugs may be discontinued to reduce anticholinergic burden. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2023; 23: 558-564.