Deprescribing Among Older Adults With Dementia

While people with dementia may take medications that are harmful or unnecessary, study authors researched whether this population would be willing to engage in deprescribing with their providers.

This cross-sectional study included 422 people with dementia aged 65 years or older who completed the National Health and Aging Trends Study’s (NHATS) medications attitudes module in 2016. If a participant was unable to answer due to cognitive or health problems, proxies provided responses.

Participants expressed their attitudes toward deprescribing, the necessity of one’s medications and willingness to deprescribe as well as the maximum number of pills they felt comfortable taking. Through the weighted sample 1.8 million people with dementia were represented with 39% aged 75-84 years, 38% aged 85 or older, 60% female, and 55% taking 6 or more medications.

“Overall, 22% believed that they may be taking one or more medicines that they no longer needed, 87% were willing to stop one or more of their medications, and 50% were uncomfortable taking five or more medications,” stated authors of a study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

According to researchers, people with dementia taking 6 or more medications were more likely to believe that at least 1 medication was unnecessary compared to those taking less than 6 medications.

“A majority of [people with dementia] are willing to deprescribe, representing an opportunity to improve quality of life for this vulnerable population,” concluded study authors.

Reference:
Growdon ME, Espejo E, Jing B, et al. Attitudes toward deprescribing among older adults with dementia in the United States. J Am Geriatr Soc. Published online March 10, 2022. doi:10.1111/jgs.17730