Common Medications May Delay Brain Injury Recovery

Amy Taylor August 11, 2015

Researchers from the UK found that commonly used drugs used to treat varying conditions like bladder problems, depression and insomnia, may actually delay the recovery of patients with brain injury.

The study of 52 patients with acquired brain or spinal injury at a neuro-rehabilitation unit showed that the average length of stay was longer in patients with a higher level of anticholinergic drugs in their system, known as the anticholinergic drug burden, or ACB.

The research group found a direct correlation between the use of such drugs and the length of brain injury recovery. In particular, those with higher ACB scores on discharge was associated with a longer stay in hospital and a lower ACB on discharge saw on average a shorter stay. The researchers note, however, that what they did was an observational study. Therefore, cause-and-effect relationship cannot be implied.

"The findings suggest there may be a statistically significant relationship between ACB score and length of stay in a neuro-rehabilitation unit following traumatic brain or spinal cord injury", says lead author Dr Chris Fox, Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at the Norwich Medical School at UEA.

"This pilot study demonstrates the need for larger studies to confirm the results and need for further investigation into what long-term effects these common medications are having on the recovery of these patients."

"While medications with ACB are often needed to treat common complications of brain or spinal cord injuries, cognitive impairment due to the medication may adversely affect a patient’s ability to engage in the rehabilitation process, potentially increasing their length of stay in hospital."

Dr Ian Maidment, Senior Lecturer in Clinical Pharmacy at Aston University added that medication review by a nurse, doctor or pharmacist, may be a way of ensuring that medicines with anti-cholinergic effects are used appropriately.

"Identifying factors which might adversely affect the length of a patient’s stay can have important financial as well as quality of life implications. So the findings of this study could be directly useful to current health care settings if they can reduce the time patients spend in rehabilitation units, improving wider efficiency of care.", concludes Prof Fox.

The findings were published in the journal Brain Injury.

Source of this article: Does anticholinergics drug burden relate to global neuro-disability outcome measures and length of hospital stay?