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Multicenter Study
. 2022 Oct;78(10):1633-1646.
doi: 10.1007/s00228-022-03368-1. Epub 2022 Jul 27.

Attitudes and beliefs of older adults and caregivers towards deprescribing in French-speaking countries: a multicenter cross-sectional study

Barbara Roux  1 , Bianca Rakheja  2 , Caroline Sirois  3   4   5 , Anne Niquille  6   7 , Catherine Pétein  8 , Nicole Ouellet  9 , Anne Spinewine  8   10 , François-Xavier Sibille  11   12 , Marie-Laure Laroche  13   14
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Attitudes and beliefs of older adults and caregivers towards deprescribing in French-speaking countries: a multicenter cross-sectional study

Barbara Roux et al. Eur J Clin Pharmacol. 2022 Oct.

Abstract

Purpose: Successful deprescribing requires understanding the attitudes of older adults and caregivers towards this process. This study aimed to capture these attitudes in four French-speaking countries and to investigate associated factors.

Methods: A multicenter cross-sectional study was conducted by administrating the French version of the revised Patients' Attitudes Towards Deprescribing (rPATD) questionnaire in Belgium, Canada, France, and Switzerland. Community-dwelling or nursing home older adults ≥ 65 years taking ≥ 1 prescribed medications and caregivers of older adults with similar characteristics were included. Multivariate logistic regressions were carried out to examine factors associated with willingness to deprescribe.

Results: A total of 367 older adults (79.3 ± 8.7 years, 63% community-dwelling, 54% ≥ 5 medications) and 255 unrelated caregivers (64.4 ± 12.6 years) of care recipients (83.4 ± 7.9 years, 52% community-dwelling, 69% ≥ 5 medications) answered the questionnaire. Among them, 87.5% older adults and 75.6% caregivers would be willing to stop medications if the physician said it was possible. Reluctance to stop a medication taken for a long time was expressed by 46% of both older adults and caregivers. A low score for the factor "concerns about stopping" (older adults: aOR: 0.21; 95% CI: 0.07-0.59), and a high score for the factor "involvement" (older adults: aOR: 2.66; 95% CI: 1.01-7.07; caregivers: aOR: 11.28; 95% CI: 1.48-85.91) were associated with willingness to deprescribe.

Conclusions: A significant proportion of older adults and caregivers of French-speaking countries are open to deprescribing. Despite this apparent willingness, deprescribing conversations in clinical practice remains marginal, emphasizing the importance of optimizing the integration of existing tools such as rPATD.

Keywords: Attitudes; Caregivers; Deprescribing; Older adults; Polypharmacy.

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