Study on Attitudes towards Deprescribing among Elderly Patients with Chronic Diseases in Several Communities of Chongqing / 中国药房

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE:To provide reference for promoting smoothly implementation of deprescribing. METHODS:A total of 335 elderly patients with chronic disease were randomly selected from 4 communities and 9 village clinic of a Chongqing community health service center. Questionnaire survey was conducted about general information of respondents,disease and drug use condition and attitude to deprescribing by using Australian Patients'Attitudes Towards Deprescribing questionnaire as reference. The results of questionnaire survey were analyzed statistically. The cognitive function was assessed by Hastgawa Dementia Scale. The degree of weakness was evaluated by Chinese edition of Edmonton Frail Scale. The quality of life was evaluated by Chinese edition of European Five Dimensional Health (EQ-5D) Scale. RESULTS:Totally 311 valid questionnaires were obtained,with effective recovery rate of 92.8％. Overall,311 participants were recruited,with a median age of 70 years,5 types of median disease (hypertension was most common) and 5 types of median medication (mainly calcium channel blocker and non-insulin hypoglycemic agent);54.7％(170 cases)participants took multiple drugs. The attitudes towards deprescribing were that 39.5％ of respondents believed that they took too many drugs;73.9％ had a desire to reduce their drugs;83.6％ reported that they would be willing to reduce drugs if their doctor said it was possible. The patients taking multiple drugs preferred to use less drugs (P=0.001) and reduce current drugs (P=0.001),and were more willing to reduce drug cost by reducing drug use;they were also more worried about drug side effects than those without taking multiple drugs (P=0.005). CONCLUSIONS:The phenomenon of elderly chronic diseases patients with multiple diseases and multiple drug use are popular in community. It is necessary to simpilfy prescription. Most elderly patients would like to reduce their medications if doctors say it is possible;the patients with multiple drug use are more willing to simplify prescription than those without multiple drug use.