en pharmacology pharmacology Original Article Original Article <span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="color:#0033ff;"><strong><em>Background</em></strong><em>:</em></span> Elderly people are in need of several drugs due to physiological changes and multiple chronic diseases. Studies have shown that anticholinergic drugs can cause cognitive impairment, reduced physical activity, and increased mortality in elderly population. Paying attention to the anticholinergic medication use in older adults can prevent the occurrence of adverse events and increase the quality of health care. This study was conducted to quantify exposure to anticholinergic medicines in older people in Amirkola.<br> <span style="color:#0033ff;"><strong><em>Methods</em></strong><em>:</em></span> This study is a part of the comprehensive cohort project that was being conducted from 2011 on the case patients of 60 years and above that referred to the Amirkola Health Center. A total of 1532 individuals were included, of whom 54.9% were men. The drug information was obtained by observing the patient&rsquo;s prescription and self-report questionnaires and collected data were analyzed by SPSS software. Exposure to anticholinergic medications was measured using the drug burden index-anticholinergic (DBI-Ach) and the anticholinergic drug scale (ADS).<br> <span style="color:#0033ff;"><strong><em>Results</em></strong><em>:</em></span> Among the 1532 elderly people with an average age of 69.21 years, 29% had DBI>0 and 36.3% had ADS>0. Also, there was a significant correlation between DBI and ADS (R=0.758). In addition, there is a significant relationship between sex variable with DBI and ADS (P=0.0001). So, women in comparison with men had higher values of DBI and ADS.<br> <span style="color:#0033ff;"><strong><em>Conclusion</em></strong><em>:</em></span> The findings of this study indicate that anticholinergic exposure is relatively high especially in older women, which posed special precautions to avoid inappropriate prescribing in the elderly.</span></span> Anticholinergic Drug Scale, Drug Burden Index, Elderly, Pharmacoepidemiology 593 599 http://caspjim.com/browse.php?a_code=A-10-704-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Kimia Raei kimia.raa@gmail.com 100319475328460032161 100319475328460032161 No Faculty of Medicine, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran Atena Rahimi atena.rahimi@yahoo.com 100319475328460032162 100319475328460032162 Yes Cellular and Molecular Biology Research Center, Health Research Institute, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran Seyed Reza Hosseini hosseinirezaseyed@gmail.com 100319475328460032163 100319475328460032163 No Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Health Research Institute, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran Ali Akbar Moghadamnia moghadamnia@yahoo.com 100319475328460032164 100319475328460032164 No Cellular and Molecular Biology Research Center, Health Research Institute, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran Ali Bijani alibijani@yahoo.com 100319475328460032165 100319475328460032165 No Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Health Research Institute, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran