Medication evidence profile

Brompheniramine

Ask about Brompheniramine

Clinical overview

First-generation antihistamine

Brompheniramine has public medication-list entries in BAAS 2019, KABS 2020 open validation supplement, and CALS 2022 Table 4. These are 3 separate source versions, each with its own evidence and definitions.

Source-specific scores

SourceScore
JARSNot listed
Yamada-ABSNot listed
BAAS3
Swe-ABSNot listed
GABSNot listed
KABS3
CALS3

How to read this: 0 means the source explicitly assigned zero. “Not listed” means the source did not provide a score for this medication. Scores from different scales are not averaged.

How to interpret the evidence

3 of 7 public source versions contain an explicit medication-list entry for brompheniramine.

The available rows for brompheniramine display the same numeric value. Agreement of the displayed numbers does not establish identical methods, clinical meaning or patient-level risk.

None of the public rows in this profile is an explicit zero. An unlisted source still supplies no value.

Source labels and provenance · 3 observations
  1. Brazilian Anticholinergic Activity Scale 2019

    Source label: Brompheniramine. Published value: 3.
    Source version: BAAS-2019
    Source location: RC4 source recovery; recovery_scope=primary_table_complete
    Observation: BAAS_2019_R0005; rating state: published_rating.

  2. KABS 2019 scale - 2020 open validation supplement

    Source label: Brompheniramine. Published value: 3.
    Source version: KABS-2020-validation-supplement
    Source location: Additional file 1; category Antihistamines; table row 27
    Observation: KABS2020_SUPP_0087; rating state: published_validation_supplement_rating.

  3. CALS 2022 - primary final Table 4

    Source label: Brompheniramine. Published value: 3.
    Source version: CALS-2022-primary-table4
    Source location: Table 4; literal capture row 55; displayed table row 8; displayed column 6
    Observation: CALS2022_T4_0055; rating state: published_final_table_rating.

Class context — first-generation antihistamines

The 2023 AGS Beers Criteria identifies this class as highly anticholinergic in older adults and notes age-related clearance and cumulative anticholinergic exposure as relevant considerations. Drug-specific exceptions or route qualifications should be shown separately when present.

AGS Beers 2023 Table 2; AGS Beers 2023 Table 7

Older-adult medication context

AGS Beers context: classification and criteria

AGS Beers 2023 · Strong anticholinergicBeers: Avoid / generally avoid in older adults
  • Table 7: Strong-anticholinergic reference listing.
  • Table 2: General older-adult medication criterion.

Source-scale observations and geriatric criteria answer different questions. The Beers material does not alter any score above.

Adults 65 years and older; intended for ambulatory, acute, and institutional care except hospice/end-of-life settings.

Condition-specific and medication-combination contexts

Table 3: clinical conditions

Condition-specific contexts: delirium or high delirium risk, dementia or cognitive impairment, and history of falls or fractures. Applicability depends on the condition and the relevant source criterion.

Table 5: cumulative anticholinergic exposure

Concurrent use of more than one anticholinergic medication should be minimized because cumulative exposure increases geriatric safety concerns.

American Geriatrics Society 2023 updated AGS Beers Criteria — Tables 2, 3, 5 and 7; selected criterion context.

Potentially inappropriate does not mean absolutely contraindicated. Apply the criterion in clinical context and use shared decision-making.

What this page does not establish

  • No medication-list entry is available here from JARS 2025, Yamada-ABS 2023, Swe-ABS 2023, and GABS 2018. These gaps remain “Not listed”; no score is inferred from another source or from class membership.
  • No route inference unless present in the source label.
  • These source records do not estimate an individual’s probability of harm or establish whether to start, stop or change a medication. Ordinal source scores are not averaged into a UnifiedACB score.

References

  1. Nery RT, Reis AMM. Development of a Brazilian anticholinergic activity drug scale. Einstein (Sao Paulo). 2019;17(2):eAO4435. doi:10.31744/einstein_journal/2019AO4435. Open source
  2. Suh Y, Ah YM, Han E, et al. Dose response relationship of cumulative anticholinergic exposure with incident dementia: validation study of Korean anticholinergic burden scale. BMC Geriatr. 2020;20(1):265. doi:10.1186/s12877-020-01671-z. Open source
  3. Ramos H, Moreno L, Pérez-Tur J, Cháfer-Pericás C, García-Lluch G, Pardo J. CRIDECO Anticholinergic Load Scale: an updated anticholinergic burden scale. Comparison with the ACB Scale in Spanish individuals with subjective memory complaints. J Pers Med. 2022;12(2):207. doi:10.3390/jpm12020207. Open source

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