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In Reply.
—We regret having been unaware of the study by Dr Syndulka and colleagues while we were engaged in our own. It is satisfying to learn that other authors have reached conclusions similar to ours.Although we suggested that our findings might have important implications for patients engaged in occupations in which even a mild degree of memory impairment could be disabling, we agree that these adverse side effects are not always critical for the overall functional status of the patient. Indeed, some of our patients in whom anticholinergic therapy had been discontinued requested that it be resumed because of evident deterioration in physical performance. Each case must clearly be judged in the light of the patient's specific situation. Apart from those considerations, our findings and those of Dr Syndulka et al do provide some additional evidence for the role of cholinergic mechanisms in memory function.