Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 17, 2026
06:52
Assessment of Dependence in Activities of Daily Living Among Older Patients in an Acute Care Unit
Published on: September 30, 2020
10.8K
Deprescribing in older people
Amy Theresa Page1, Kathleen Potter1, Rhonda Clifford1
1School of Medicine and Pharmacology, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia.
Maturitas
|July 25, 2016
Summary
Deprescribing helps older adults manage multiple medications (polypharmacy), balancing benefits and risks. This approach systematically withdraws inappropriate medicines to improve health outcomes and reduce harm.
Area of Science:
- Geriatric Medicine
- Pharmacology
- Public Health
Background:
- Older adults with chronic diseases benefit from medications but face high harm risks.
- Medication management is crucial for symptom control and disease progression in the elderly.
- Under-treatment and over-treatment (polypharmacy) pose significant risks to older patients.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the role and evidence base of deprescribing in older populations.
- To balance medication benefits against potential harm in elderly patients.
- To manage polypharmacy and improve health outcomes through systematic medication withdrawal.
Main Methods:
- Reviewing evidence for deprescribing in older adults.
- Analyzing studies focused on reducing polypharmacy using various methods.
- Examining interventions for withdrawing specific, potentially inappropriate medications.
Main Results:
- Growing evidence supports deprescribing, particularly for potentially inappropriate medicines like long-term benzodiazepines.
- Individualized interventions effectively reduce polypharmacy by withdrawing specific medications.
- Further research is needed to identify optimal deprescribing strategies for specific older adult subgroups.
Conclusions:
- Deprescribing offers a strategy to mitigate risks associated with polypharmacy in older adults.
- Systematic medication review and withdrawal can improve patient outcomes.
- Targeted research is essential to refine deprescribing approaches for diverse elderly populations.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
01:15Drug Dosing: Geriatric Patients
344
Elderly individuals encompass a diverse population with varying degrees of age-related physiological changes. Defining the elderly presents challenges, as the geriatric population is often arbitrarily categorized as individuals older than 65. However, many individuals in this group lead active and healthy lives, with an increasing number surpassing 85 years and falling into the older elderly category. Physiological changes associated with aging impact performance capacity and homeostatic...
344
01:27Pharmacodynamics in Geriatric Patients: Effects of Age
309
Age-related pharmacokinetic changes are extensively documented, but understanding age-related pharmacodynamic alterations is relatively limited. This knowledge gap can be partly attributed to the complexity of developing appropriate measures of drug responses compared to bioanalytical methods for determining drug concentrations.Most information regarding age-related differences in human pharmacodynamics originates from cross-sectional studies. However, these studies assume that observed mean...
309
01:00Pharmacokinetics in Geriatric Patients: Effect of Age on Drug Distribution
318
Drug distribution in the human body is influenced by several factors, including plasma protein concentration, body composition, blood flow, tissue-protein concentration, and tissue fluid pH. Among these, changes in plasma protein concentration and body composition due to aging significantly affect how drugs are distributed within the body. Specifically, aging is associated with a decrease in albumin levels by about 10% and an increase in α1-acid glycoprotein levels. These alterations are...
318
01:22Pharmacokinetics in Geriatric Patients: Effect of Age on Drug Absorption
793
As individuals age, their body's physiology evolves, affecting drug pharmacokinetics. The most apparent changes occur in the gastrointestinal tract, where an increase in gastric pH, a delay in gastric emptying, and a reduction in gastrointestinal motility are observed. Remarkably, these changes do not substantially modify the absorption of orally administered drugs, particularly those absorbed via passive diffusion.Transdermal drug delivery emerges as a highly viable method for older adults due...
793
01:18Pharmacokinetics in Geriatric Patients: Effect of Age on Drug Metabolism
300
Geriatric patients show significant variation in how their bodies process medications, which can change how effective and safe treatments are. The liver is the primary organ where drug metabolism occurs, involving two main types of chemical reactions: phase I and II. Phase I metabolism is driven by the cytochrome P450 enzyme system, which includes key types such as CYP3A, CYP2D6, and CYP2C9. Research indicates that while aging doesn't notably alter the levels or activity of these enzymes, it...
300
01:18Pharmacokinetics in Geriatric Patients: Effect of Age on Drug Excretion
308
In geriatric patients, renal physiology undergoes significant changes, including diminished renal blood flow and a lower glomerular filtration rate (GFR), leading to alterations in medication clearance. Drugs such as aminoglycoside antibiotics, lithium, and digoxin, which rely on glomerular filtration for removal from the body, particularly impact pharmacokinetics. These drugs tend to have slower clearance rates in older adults, necessitating careful dosage considerations.Evaluation of renal...
308