A guideline tells doctors to avoid diphenhydramine after age 65
The recommendation is graded strong on moderate evidence: ageing clears the drug more slowly, its sedation wears off when it is used for sleep, and it is strongly anticholinergic.
What the study found
Diphenhydramine is a drug doctors are told to avoid after 65
The recommendation is graded strong and the evidence behind it moderate. The reasons given are that ageing clears the drug more slowly, that its sedation wears off when it is used for sleep, and that it is strongly anticholinergic, drying the mouth and slowing the gut and bladder.
The caveat · A panel's vote, not an effect size
A panel of experts weighs evidence and then votes, so strong records a committee's confidence rather than an effect size. The list carries its own exception: treating a severe allergic reaction may still be appropriate. The harms bundled into one line run from dry mouth to contested dementia evidence.