The relationship between anticholinergic drug burden and clinical frailty in urinary incontinence patients

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between anticholinergic drug burden and clinical frailty in patients with urinary incontinence.

This prospective cross-sectional study included 197 patients who were aged ≥60 years old and admitted to Family Medicine and Urology Departments of Kırıkkale Faculty of Medicine between May 2024 and August 2024. Anticholinergic burden was calculated using anticholinergic burden calculator, frailty was assessed using the clinical frailty scale, and these patients were assigned a frailty score ranging from 1 (very fit) to 9 (terminally ill).

The mean age of the 197 participants in our study was 67.71±6.85 and 92 (46.7%) were female. The mean anticholinergic burden score was 2.43±1.77 and clinical frailty scale score was 4.75±1.05. There was a statistically significant difference between age groups, gender, marital status, educational status, anticholinergic burden status, and clinical frailty scale score (p<0.001, p=0.001, p=0.033, p<0.001, and p<0.001, respectively). There was also a statistically significant distance between age groups, gender, marital status, educational status, and anticholinergic aurden score (p=0.001, p=0.023, p=0.013, p=0.042, respectively). A strong, positive, and significant correlation was found between anticholinergic burden and frailty (r=0.728, p<0.01).

The findings of this study highlighted that it is useful to evaluate the anticholinergic burden and reconsider treatment options when prescribing to elderly patients with urinary incontinence.