How UnifiedACB works
Methodology
UnifiedACB brings several published anticholinergic burden scales into one place without pretending that they are the same scale.
Scores stay with their source
A medication may receive different scores from different publications. UnifiedACB shows those differences instead of averaging them into a new score.
Missing is not zero
A score of 0 means a source explicitly assigned zero. If a medication is not listed, UnifiedACB shows “Not listed.”
Names and formulations matter
Aliases, combination products, routes and formulations are kept separate when they can change what a source actually reported.
Sources can change over time
When a later publication differs from an earlier one, both are documented rather than silently replacing one with the other.
Included public sources
Public medication profiles currently use JARS, Yamada-ABS, BAAS, Swe-ABS, GABS, the open KABS validation medication list, and CALS. See all source citations.
KABS example
The original 2019 KABS publication reported 494 medications but contained 489 literal table entries because one grouped estrogen entry represented several named preparations. The later open validation supplement made that difference visible. UnifiedACB keeps the 2019 publication as the original scale source and uses the open validation supplement for the public medication-level representation.
Limits
Anticholinergic burden scales are not interchangeable and there is no established gold-standard scale. UnifiedACB is designed to organize evidence and disagreement, not to replace clinical judgment or give patient-specific medication instructions.