Table 4. Contribution of prescriber specialty to cumulative anticholinergic burdena in men and women, with at least one dispensation of medication with anticholinergic activity (MAC) during the observation period (2016), by sex and age group.
| Age groupb | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ≤ 19 | 20–34 | 35–49 | 50–64 | 65–79 | 80–94 | ≥ 95 | ||||||||
| Characteristics | Men | Women | Men | Women | Men | Women | Men | Women | Men | Women | Men | Women | Men | Women |
|
N = 306,894 |
N = 288,767 |
N = 260,776 |
N = 378,155 |
N = 372,387 |
N = 568,948 |
N = 627,682 |
N = 913,551 |
N = 609,698 |
N = 848,695 |
N = 221,985 |
N = 373,292 |
N = 4,021 |
N = 16,830 |
|
| Prescribers of MAC (%)c | ||||||||||||||
| General practitioner | 58.3% | 54.1% | 39.2% | 41.0% | 48.5% | 47.0% | 63.5% | 56.5% | 71.2% | 68.5% | 73.3% | 78.2% | 85.0% | 86.3% |
| Anesthesiology | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.3% | 0.4% | 0.5% | 0.8% | 0.6% | 1.0% | 0.3% | 0.6% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.1% | 0.1% |
| Ophthalmology | 5.0% | 5.5% | 2.3% | 2.5% | 1.6% | 1.5% | 1.2% | 1.3% | 1.9% | 2.2% | 2.0% | 1.6% | 1.1% | 0.6% |
| Surgery | 0.8% | 0.7% | 1.0% | 1.0% | 1.2% | 1.4% | 1.0% | 1.3% | 0.6% | 0.9% | 0.4% | 0.5% | 0.2% | 0.2% |
| Gynecology | 0.0% | 0.3% | 0.0% | 1.1% | 0.0% | 1.0% | 0.0% | 1.3% | 0.0% | 1.8% | 0.0% | 0.9% | 0.0% | 0.2% |
| Otorhinolaryngology | 2.0% | 1.7% | 1.3% | 1.4% | 0.9% | 0.8% | 0.5% | 0.4% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Dermatology | 7.5% | 8.7% | 2.3% | 3.2% | 0.9% | 1.1% | 0.5% | 0.6% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.3% |
| Internal medicine | 1.6% | 1.7% | 4.2% | 4.5% | 4.5% | 4.6% | 6.1% | 5.8% | 7.3% | 6.1% | 5.7% | 3.5% | 2.5% | 1.5% |
| Pediatrics | 5.6% | 4.8% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Psychology and psychiatry | 5.9% | 9.7% | 27.7% | 26.7% | 25.3% | 26.0% | 15.9% | 19.9% | 6.8% | 9.0% | 5.2% | 6.0% | 2.9% | 5.3% |
| Neurosurgery | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Neurology | 0.6% | 0.9% | 5.1% | 5.3% | 4.8% | 5.2% | 3.5% | 4.0% | 3.1% | 2.9% | 2.8% | 2.2% | 1.8% | 1.6% |
| Radiology | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.0% |
| Physical medicine and rehabilitation | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Urology | 3.3% | 2.1% | 1.6% | 2.0% | 1.5% | 2.2% | 2.4% | 3.0% | 6.4% | 5.1% | 8.7% | 4.7% | 5.1% | 2.1% |
| Unknown specialty | 9.8% | 10.1% | 15.6% | 11.4% | 11.1% | 9.1% | 5.6% | 5.7% | 2.4% | 2.7% | 1.6% | 1.9% | 1.2% | 2.0% |
a The cumulative anticholinergic burden of a MAC is calculated by multiplying each MAC’s anticholinergic cognitive burden (ACB) score by its duration (prescribed number of DDDs).
b The total anticholinergic burden per age group is calculated by summing up each person’s cumulative anticholinergic burden during the observation period in the respective age group.
c Cumulative anticholinergic burden stratified by prescribing physician’s specialty.