Table 2.

Prevalence of anticholinergic prescriptions (weighted %) in office-based outpatient visits by physician specialty and medication class among US adults ages 65 and older, 2006–2015 NAMCS.

	Years (%)					Overall	Trend (2006–2015)
	2006–2007	2008–2009	2010–2011	2012–2013	2014–2015		OR†	95% CI	P-value
Visits in which any strong anticholinergics prescribed	6.1%	6.8%	6.7%	6.5%	4.7%	6.2%	0.95	0.91 – 0.98	0.004
Stratified by physician specialty
Primary care	8.7%	8.7%	8.8%	8.2%	6.4%	8.2%	0.94	0.89 – 0.98	0.013
Psychiatry	15.9%	11.9%	10.1%	13.0%	7.6%	11.3%	0.85	0.72 – 1.01	0.058
Neurology	7.9%	10.2%	9.4%	9.0%	13.4%	9.9%	1.11	0.82 – 1.51	0.490
Urology	10.1%	10.0%	11.5%	10.8%	8.8%	10.3%	0.98	0.90 – 1.07	0.670
Other a)	3.6%	4.8%	4.6%	4.5%	3.0%	4.1%	0.96	0.90 – 1.02	0.212
Stratified by medication class
Antidepressants	35.3%	28.7%	31.0%	31.8%	39.0%	32.6%	1.04	0.96 – 1.13	0.340
Antimuscarinics	29.5%	38.6%	30.0%	27.2%	29.6%	31.3%	0.94	0.67 – 1.02	0.117
Antihistamines	22.7%	16.1%	19.2%	17.8%	17.8%	18.6%	0.95	0.87 – 1.03	0.237
Skeletal muscle relaxants	10.5%	13.7%	16.5%	19.0%	11.6%	14.6%	1.09	0.99 – 1.19	0.069
Antispasmodics	7.0%	8.4%	9.1%	9.1%	7.1%	8.3%	1.02	0.93 – 1.12	0.673
Sample Size							Total
Unweighted sample	899	1,011	1,041	2,063	862		5,876
Weighted visits	2,759,559	3,461,389	3,242,283	3,064,665	2,074,460		14,602,357

Note:

^†across the 10-year period trends.

^a)includes obstetrics/gynecology, cardiovascular diseases, dermatology, urology, neurology, ophthalmology, otolaryngology, and others.