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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 25, 2025

Drug Repurposing Hypothesis Generation Using the "RE:fine Drugs" System

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Published on: December 11, 2016

Deprescribing: An umbrella review.

Nuša Japelj¹, Nejc Horvat¹, Lea Knez^1,2

¹1University of Ljubljana Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Social Pharmacy 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Acta Pharmaceutica (Zagreb, Croatia)

|May 30, 2024

Summary

Deprescribing interventions effectively reduce inappropriate medications and improve patient outcomes. However, medication cessation requires careful monitoring to prevent adverse withdrawal events, emphasizing patient safety in deprescribing studies.

Keywords:

deprescription drug discontinuation drug tapering drug withdrawal umbrella review

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Area of Science:

Pharmacology and Geriatrics
Evidence Synthesis and Health Services Research

Background:

Deprescribing involves reducing or stopping medications that may no longer be beneficial or could cause harm.
Systematic reviews are crucial for synthesizing evidence on deprescribing interventions and outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

To conduct an umbrella review of systematic reviews on deprescribing studies.
To analyze characteristics of interventions, populations, medicines, and settings in deprescribing research.
To present clinical and humanistic outcomes, barriers, facilitators, and tools for deprescribing.

Main Methods:

Searched the Medline database for systematic reviews and meta-analyses on deprescribing published up to April 2022.
Included reviews with planned and supervised deprescribing; excluded those without.
Analyzed 94 systematic reviews (23 meta-analyses) based on study focus (outcomes, barriers, tools).

Main Results:

Most reviews (74%) focused on clinical or humanistic outcomes, while fewer addressed attitudes (18%) or tools (8.5%).
Deprescribing intervention trials showed feasibility and reduced inappropriate medications.
Medication cessation trials indicated a higher frequency of adverse drug withdrawal events, necessitating caution.

Conclusions:

Deprescribing interventions are feasible and can reduce inappropriate medication use.
Comprehensive medication optimization interventions show potential for reducing hospitalizations, falls, and mortality.
Patient safety and careful monitoring are paramount during medication cessation to mitigate withdrawal risks.