Many of the medications commonly prescribed to patients over 65 years of age may have anticholinergic effects. In this population, anticholinergic effects can cause adverse events, such as confusion, dizziness and falls. These have been shown to increase patient mortality.
Several anticholinergic scoring systems have been developed to estimate the anticholinergic burden of patients and be aware of potential associated effects such as increased cognitive impairment and mortality.
This project aims to collect pilot EEG data from patients with a known anticholinergic burden score to characterize neural activity pattern that could be used as a monitoring mechanism for anticholinergic burden. We want to evaluate the feasibility to use mobile EEG technologies to monitor anticholinergic burden in a clinical environment. In this pilot we aim to collect 4 to 5 datasets. EEG frequency band activity has been shown before to be modulated by anticholinergic substances. The collected datasets will be analyzed using similar methods to characterize individual EEG signatures against anticholinergic burden profiles.
Data collection is to be carried out during this internship in collaboration with clinical partners at the Mercer’s Institute for Successful Aging at St. James’s Hospital. Data analysis will be carried out at the Global Brain Health Institute in Trinity College Dublin.