Table 1.
Baseline Demographic and Health Characteristics of the Sample by Ever Using Anticholinergic Medications or Having Recurrent Falls During Follow-up
| Anticholinergic Use During Follow-up* | Recurrent Falls During Follow-up† | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total (n = 2 372) | No Use (n = 1 898) | Any Use (n = 474) | p Value‡ | No Falls (n = 1531) | Ever Falls (n = 841) | p Value‡ | |
| Mean (SD) or n (%) | Mean (SD) or n (%) | Mean (SD) or n (%) | Mean (SD) or n (%) | Mean (SD) or n (%) | |||
| Age, y | 73.6 (2.9) | 73.6 (2.9) | 73.8 (2.9) | .06 | 73.5 (2.9) | 73.8 (2.9) | .06 |
| Male gender | 1 134 (47.8%) | 942 (49.6%) | 192 (40.5%) | .0004 | 741 (48.4%) | 393 (46.7%) | .4 |
| White race | 1 424 (60.0%) | 1 134 (59.8%) | 290 (61.2%) | .6 | 875 (57.2%) | 549 (65.3%) | .0001 |
| Education | .1 | .3 | |||||
| Less than HS | 557 (23.5%) | 462 (24.4%) | 95 (20.1%) | 373 (24.4%) | 184 (22.0%) | ||
| HS grad | 783 (33.1%) | 621 (32.8%) | 162 (34.3%) | 507 (33.2%) | 276 (32.9%) | ||
| Postsecondary | 1 027 (43.4%) | 812 (42.9%) | 215 (45.6%) | 649 (42.5%) | 378 (45.1%) | ||
| Baseline recurrent falls | 268 (12.1%) | 195 (11.0%) | 73 (16.6%) | .002 | 37 (2.6%) | 231 (29.0%) | <.0001 |
| COMT % | .2 | .07 | |||||
| Met/Met | 454 (19.1%) | 367 (19.3%) | 87 (18.4%) | 272 (17.8%) | 182 (21.6%) | ||
| Met/Val | 1 138 (48.0%) | 893 (47.0%) | 245 (51.7%) | 743 (48.5%) | 395 (47.0%) | ||
| Val/Val | 780 (32.9%) | 638 (33.6%) | 142 (30.0%) | 516 (33.7%) | 264 (31.4%) | ||
| Gait speed (m/s)§ | 1.34 (0.26) | 1.35 (0.25) | 1.32 (0.26) | .1 | 1.34 (0.25) | 1.34 (0.26) | .8 |
| BMI | 27.5 (4.8) | 27.4 (4.8) | 27.5 (4.8) | .7 | 27.3 (4.8) | 27.7 (4.8) | .07 |
| 3MS | 90.5 (8.0) | 90.5 (7.8) | 90.4 (8.6) | .9 | 90.1 (8.2) | 91.2 (7.4) | .001 |
| DSST | 36.2 (14.4) | 36.2 (14.5) | 36.2 (13.9) | 1.0 | 35.5 (14.4) | 37.4 (14.3) | .003 |
| Ever smoker | 1 330 (56.1%) | 1 087 (57.3%) | 243 (51.4%) | .02 | 868 (56.8%) | 462 (55.0%) | .4 |
| Pulmonary diseases | 276 (11.7%) | 214 (11.3%) | 62 (13.1%) | .3 | 160 (10.5%) | 116 (13.8%) | .02 |
| Cardiovascular disease | 648 (27.9%) | 512 (27.6%) | 136 (29.1%) | .5 | 389 (26.0%) | 259 (31.3%) | .006 |
| Diabetes | 347 (14.7%) | 266 (14.0%) | 81 (17.1%) | .09 | 203 (13.3%) | 144 (17.1%) | .01 |
| Hypertension | 1247 (53.0%) | 992 (52.7%) | 255 (54.3%) | .5 | 803 (52.9%) | 444 (53.2%) | .9 |
| Total medications | 5.7 (3.5) | 5.6 (3.4) | 7.4 (4.2) | <.0001 | 5.7 (3.4) | 6.7 (4.0) | <.0001 |
| Anxiety | 394 (16.7%) | 289 (15.3%) | 105 (22.3%) | .0003 | 216 (14.2%) | 178 (21.3%) | <.0001 |
| CES-D | 4.6 (5.2) | 4.4 (5.0) | 5.3 (5.9) | .0009 | 4.1 (4.6) | 5.4 (5.9) | <.0001 |
| Back pain | 1 005 (42.4%) | 753 (39.7%) | 252 (53.1%) | <.0001 | 583 (38.1%) | 422 (50.2%) | <.0001 |
| Sleep problems | 757 (32.0%) | 585 (30.9%) | 172 (36.4%) | .02 | 454 (29.7%) | 303 (36.1%) | .001 |
| Urinary incontinence | 941 (39.8%) | 709 (37.4%) | 232 (49.2%) | <.0001 | 559 (36.6%) | 382 (45.5%) | <.0001 |
Notes: 3MS = Modified Mini-Mental State exam; BMI = body mass index; COMT = catechol-O-methyltransferase; CES-D = Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale; DSST = digit symbol substitution test; HS = high school.
*Ever used anticholinergic medications from year 2 to year 10.
†Ever reported recurrent falls from year 2 to year 11.
‡ p Value is calculated from chi-square test for categorical variables and F-test for continuous variables.
§12 missing for gait speed at year 1.