Current Status and Research Trends in Deprescribing: A Bibliometric Review

Polypharmacy has emerged as a major global public health concern. To mitigate its adverse effects, deprescribing has been introduced and integrated into clinical practice. This study aims to analyze the current research landscape and identify emerging trends in deprescribing from a bibliometric perspective.

Relevant studies on deprescribing published prior to December 2024 were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection database. Bibliometric analysis and visualization of co-authorship, citation, co-citation, co-occurrence, and burst detection were performed using VOSviewer, CiteSpace, and Bibliometrix.

A total of 1809 publications were identified, with a marked increase over the past decade. The field is dominated by contributions from developed countries, notably the United States, Australia, and Canada. Studies primarily focus on chronic conditions, such as psychiatric disorders, cardiometabolic diseases, and chronic pain, and the medications used to treat them. Influential publications highlighted barriers and facilitators of deprescribing, deprescribing tools, and deprescribing interventions and their associated outcomes. Burst detection analysis pointed to increasing attention on pharmaceutical care and implementation science.

This study presents the first comprehensive bibliometric overview of deprescribing. The findings demonstrate that the field has grown rapidly but remains dominated by developed countries and a limited set of chronic diseases. The integration of implementation science frameworks emerges as a promising approach to enhance the design and evaluation of deprescribing interventions. Future studies should broaden their scope to include a wider range of diseases and medications, and encourage greater participation from developing countries.