Medications causing potential cognitive impairment are common in nursing home dementia units – A cross-sectional study

•Benzodiazepine use was alarmingly high, despite the knowledge of increased risk of sedation, cognitive impairment, delirium and fall in older people.•Antipsychotics were common in residents with dementia. This is worrying since alarming side-effects are seen in these persons and treatment effects of antipsychotics are modest in BPSD.•An awareness of the inappropriateness in prescribing anticholinergics to the oldest old seem to be apparent, but not to persons with cholinergic deficit due to Alzheimer's disease or LBD/PDD.