Year: 2025
Type: conference-paper
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Background and Importance There is a high prevalence of polypharmacy among the elderly population, which increases the likelihood of having potentially inappropriate medication. Deprescribing has been introduced as an approach to improve appropriate medication use. Patient’s involvement is important for the success of deprescribing. Aim and Objectives To assess the attitudes, beliefs, and experiences of older patients with rheumatic diseases regarding the number of medications they are taking and their feelings towards deprescribing. Material and Methods Cross-sectional study conducted in a third-level hospital in June-2024. Patients ≥65 years with rheumatic diseases, who attended the hospital pharmacy department, were given the validated Spanish version of the Patients Attitudes Towards Deprescribing’ (rPATD) questionnaire1. rPATD questionnaire has 22 items on a 5-point Likert scale: from 1 (strongly agree) to 5 (strongly disagree). We excluded patients who didn’t sign the informed consent and those in clinical trial. Results Thirty-three patients were included, median age: 72 years (IQR:68.8–76.8), 68.8% women; median drug/patient: 9.5 (IQR:6–12). rPATD results are shown in table 1. Majority of participants (90.9%) stated that they were dissatisfied with their medications and 97% would be willing to deprescribe one or more medications if their doctor thought it appropriate. Conclusion and Relevance Patients with rheumatic diseases are not willing to have their medicines deprescribed. General satisfaction with their pharmacotherapy is high. Pharmacists should recognise such patients and lead them towards a shared decision making attitude. Therefore, it is imperative to carry out strategies to implement patient-centred care based on their attitudes and expectations. References and/or Acknowledgements doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2021-050678 (https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/bmjopen/suppl/2022/04/21/bmjopen-2021-050678.DC1/bmjopen-2021-050678supp001_data_supplement.pdf) Conflict of Interest No conflict of interest
Authors: B González, Á García López, MR Cantudo Cuenca, MDM García-Valdés, MI Sierra Torres, M Salazar Bravo
Institution: Hospital Universitario Virgen de las Nieves
Language: English
Subfield: Geriatrics and Gerontology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W4408377237