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Attitudes to Deprescribing in Patients over 75

Patients own attitudes and opinions regarding the number of medications they take and their willingness to reduce the number of medicines they take is an interesting yet underdeveloped area of study. There is currently no Irish research on this topic. Indeed, only one piece of research has ever been conducted on this topic. In Australia, researchers recently published a study called ‘People’s attitudes, beliefs and experiences regarding polypharmacy and their willingness to deprescribe’. Polypharmacy is defined as taking five or more medications on a daily basis. The prevalence and associated adverse effects of polyharmacy is very well researched. A component of the recent TILDA(The Irish Longitudinal Aging) study conducted by Trinity College Dublin found that in the over 65 population 31% report polypharmacy. Another recent study by D O’Sullivan et al (Drugs and Aging 2013, 30:39-49) conducted in Cork found that approximately 70% of participants were prescribed at least one potentially inappropriate prescription according to the STOPP criteria. The STOPP/START criteria has been deveoped in order to tackle polypharmacy in the elderly and reduce the number of potentially inappropriate prescriptions (PIP). Given the extent of polypharmacy and associated PIPs in Ireland, it is important to explore the views and attitudes of patients with regards polypharmacy. The basic aim of this study is to investigate whether or not patients in the 75 + age cohort would be willing to reduce their level of medication if advised to do so by their doctor and to compare this data with the Australian research.