Han 2008.

Study characteristics
Methods	Design: retrospective cohort Setting: community Country: USA Duration of follow‐up: 1 year Covariates controlled for: age, education, race, living arrangement, before enrolment. history of alcohol use and smoking, and depressive symptoms, ADL function, Charlson Comorbidity Index
Participants	Participants numbers: 544 Population type: older adults Sex: 100% men Age (mean): 74 years
Prognostic factors	Anticholinergic burden measurement method: clinician‐rated
Outcomes	Outcomes assessed: cognitive decline Outcome ascertainment cognitive decline: HVRT, IADL Diagnostic criteria cognitive decline: scores on cognitive testing
Source of funding	Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center at Yale University School of Medicine
Notes
Item	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Study participation	No	Men only with hypertension.
Study attrition	Unclear	Attrition was high but just below the 20% high risk mark. Conducted analysis to investigate potential impact of missing values on final model and did not alter conclusions but did not explain what these missing data analyses entailed.
Prognostic factor measurement	Unclear	No measurement of dosage or frequency of use. No measurement of non‐VA sources of drugs. Conducted repeated measurements over the follow‐up period for the 12 months preceding each assessment at 1 and 2 years.
Outcome measurement	Unclear	No mention of blinding. Unclear if anticholinergic burden was applied before or after cognitive assessment score was determined.
Study confounding	Yes	Only men in sample so no sex. Controlled for comorbidities via Charlson Comorbidity Index along with depression.
Reverse causation	No	Anticholinergic burden exposure time frame defined as the 12 months preceding each follow‐up at 1 year and 2 years. (so seems to have covered medication use right up to the point of each follow‐up assessment).
Statistical analysis and reporting	Unclear	No assessment of assumptions. Referred to a protocol but was not a protocol specifically for this study so no mention of an analysis plan.