Do anticholinergic drugs contribute to functional and cognitive decline? "Medications that block muscarinic cholinergic receptors may be associated with functional and cognitive decline."

. This upregulation could be a compensation to stabilize presynaptic acetylcholine concentra -tions in the face of degeneration of cholinergic neurons. With the evidence that anticholinergic drugs are a risk factor for dementia, there are two potential pathways for this link to dementia:s A compensated cholinergic deÞcit at the pre -dementia stages of AlzheimerOs disease is critically affected by these drugs, with the consequence of accelerated functional decline of cholinergic transmission;s These drugs exert an inhibitory effect on the control of the insammatory processes.It has been demonstrated that peripheral immune responses can be inhibited by cholinergic vagal Old age is not a disease Ð it is strength and sur -vivorship, triumph over all kinds of vicissitudes and disappointments, trials and illnesses. Recent publications have, however, high -lighted one age-related adversity that has until recently been relatively overlooked