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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2024 Dec 1.
Published in final edited form as: Basic Clin Pharmacol Toxicol. 2023 May 4;133(6):661–664. doi: 10.1111/bcpt.13877

Table 1.

Ten deprescribing articles for newcomers to the field.

First author, year Title Comments
Critical concepts
Holmes 200610 Reconsidering medication appropriateness for patients in late life Introduction to key aspects that inform deprescribing such as time to benefit, life expectancy, goals of care, balance of benefits and harms of medications
Boyd 200411 Clinical practice guidelines and quality of care for older patients with multiple comorbid diseases: implications for pay for performance An examination of the implications of treatment guidelines for single diseases on older adults with multiple health problems
High level overviews
Scott 201512 Reducing inappropriate polypharmacy: the process of deprescribing A framework for the process of deprescribing, highlighting key steps and considerations
Reeve 201713 Deprescribing: a narrative review of the evidence and practical recommendations for recognizing opportunities and taking action Narrative review covering ‘what is deprescribing’, the potential benefits and harms, and barriers, enablers and opportunities for taking action (with references for further reading)
Major trials
Tannenbaum 201414 Reduction of inappropriate benzodiazepine prescriptions among older adults through direct patient education: the EMPOWER cluster randomized trial Trial of educating patients using a deprescribing patient empowerment intervention delivered through community pharmacies
Sheppard 202015 Effect of Antihypertensive Medication Reduction vs Usual Care on Short-term Blood Pressure Control in Patients With Hypertension Aged 80 Years and Older: The OPTIMISE Randomized Clinical Trial Contemporary trial incorporating a novel approach in the field (noninferiority) to examine the effects of deprescribing
The complexity of deprescribing
Doherty 202016 Barriers and facilitators to deprescribing in primary care: a systematic review A comprehensive review highlighting the challenges of deprescribing in routine care
Weir 202217 Consumer attitudes towards deprescribing: a systematic review and meta-analysis A summary of papers which have examined how consumers across the world feel about deprescribing
Knowledge synthesis in deprescribing
Gnjidic 202218 Achieving sustainable healthcare through deprescribing Introduction to and synthesis of a collection of Cochrane Reviews related to deprescribing that discusses the challenges of evidence synthesis in this field
Farrell 201619 Methodology for developing deprescribing guidelines: using evidence and GRADE to guide recommendations for deprescribing A framework for synthesizing deprescribing evidence into clinical practice guidelines for clinicians and patients, see deprescribing.org for related work