SynthesisEuropean geriatric medicine2023
Barriers and enablers to deprescribing of older adults and their caregivers: a systematic review and meta-synthesis.
Synthesis in European geriatric medicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- Deprescribing decisions in palliative care: a qualitative meta-synthesis of multi-stakeholder experiences and influencing factors.BMC palliative care · 2026Pooled it
- Discontinuation of levothyroxine therapy in patients with subclinical hypothyroidism: a pilot randomized clinical trial.Endocrine · 2025Trial
- Effectiveness of Patient-Directed Education to Sustain Deprescribing: A Pragmatic Trial.Drugs & aging · 2025Trial
- Patients' perspectives on deprescribing in swedish primary care: an exploratory survey study.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2026Article
- Latent class patterns of medication attitudes and their correlates among older adults in the United States.BMC geriatrics · 2026Article
- Appropriate Use of Proton Pump Inhibitors in Older Adults: Concerns and Solutions.Drugs & aging · 2026Review
- A qualitative study on the challenges in deprescribing for elderly patients with polypharmacy.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Applying a multidisciplinary intervention for drug adequacy in an intermediate care hospital (AMIDA-ICH): study protocol of a complex intervention trial.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- The Reporting and Methodological Recommendations for Observational Studies Estimating the Effects of Deprescribing Medications (REMROSE-D) ISPE-Endorsed Guidance.Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety · 2025Article
- Barriers to and Enablers of Supporting Deprescribing Benzodiazepines in Older Adults: A Survey of European Nonphysician Healthcare Professionals.Basic & clinical pharmacology & toxicology · 2025Article
- Aligning Medications With What Matters Most: Conversations Between Pharmacists, People With Dementia, and Care Partners.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2025Article
- Article
- Older Adults' Attitudes Toward Deprescribing in 14 Countries.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- Pharmacist-Mediated Deprescribing in Long-Term Care Facilities: A Systematic Review.Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Challenges of benzodiazepine deprescribing in elderly patients attending primary healthcare.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Article
- Deprescribing 5-Aminosalicytes in Patients with Ulcerative Colitis on Concomitant Advanced Therapy: A Qualitative Analysis.Patient preference and adherence · 2025Article
- Current Status and Research Trends in Deprescribing: A Bibliometric Review.Drug, healthcare and patient safety · 2025Review
- Deprescribing in older adults in a French community: a questionnaire study on patients' beliefs and attitudes.BMC geriatrics · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeThe primary objective of this study was to identify the barriers and enablers to deprescribing from the viewpoint of community-dwelling older adults and their caregivers.
methodsThis meta-synthesis included a systematic review of the literature and an inductive thematic synthesis. Medline and EMBASE were searched for studies that qualitatively explored the perspectives of older adults or their caregivers on deprescribing. Studies had to use qualitative methodologies and include community-dwelling adults (or their caregivers) aged 60 years or older who were taking one or more chronic medications. The quality of studies was assessed using the CASP tool.
resultsFourteen studies were included in the meta-synthesis. All studies included older adults, and 3 included caregivers or companions. Four barriers were identified: favorable perceptions of medications, fear of medication discontinuation, the complexity of the healthcare system and discouragement from healthcare professionals; and seven enablers were identified: medication safety concerns, patient autonomy and confidence, education, follow-up, deprescribing strategies, relationships with physicians, and patient-perceived benefits of deprescribing.
conclusionMultiple barriers and enablers to deprescribing exist within the older adult population. Health system complexity and direct discouragement from healthcare providers were barriers uniquely identified in the older adult population. This population would benefit from interventions to increase their medication literacy, confidence, and autonomy in the deprescribing journey.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.