The associations of the number of medications and the use of anticholinergics with recovery from tubal feeding: a longitudinal hospital-based study

Abstract Background Several medications, such as anticholinergics, are considered to affect the swallowing function adversely; however, whether or not anticholinergics or polypharmacy should be avoided to prevent eating dysfunction in elderly populations remains unclear. We therefore examined whethe...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Keiji Takata, Kentaro Oniki, Yuki Tateyama, Hiroki Yasuda, Miu Yokota, Sae Yamauchi, Norio Sugawara, Norio Yasui-Furukori, Junji Saruwatari
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2020-09-01
Series:BMC Geriatrics
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Online Access:http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12877-020-01778-3
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Summary:Abstract Background Several medications, such as anticholinergics, are considered to affect the swallowing function adversely; however, whether or not anticholinergics or polypharmacy should be avoided to prevent eating dysfunction in elderly populations remains unclear. We therefore examined whether or not the number of medications or the use of anticholinergics was associated with recovery from tubal feeding in elderly inpatients. Methods We conducted a retrospective 1-year observation study in 95 Japanese hospitalized patients (83.3 ± 9.7 years old) receiving nutrition through a feeding tube. The anticholinergic cognitive burden scale (ACBs) was used as an index for quantifying the anticholinergic action. Results Thirty-six (37.9%) subjects recovered from tubal to oral feeding during the observation period. The logistic regression models showed that an increased number of prescribed medications and an increase in ACBs decreased the incidence of recovery from tubal feeding (odds ratio [95% confidence interval]: 0.66 [0.50–0.87], P = 0.003 and 0.52 [0.29–0.92], P = 0.024, respectively). Furthermore, the cumulative incidence of recovery from tubal feeding was significantly lower in the subjects who were given an additional ≥3 medications during the observation period than in those who were not (hazard ratio [95% confidence interval]: 0.08 [0.01–0.59], P = 0.014). Conclusions The findings of this study suggest that an increased exposure to medications, especially anticholinergics, may be an important factor interfering with recovery from tubal feeding in hospitalized elderly patients.
ISSN:1471-2318