Deprescribing

Deprescribing is a process to taper or stop medications with the intention to achieve improved health outcomes by reducing exposure to medications that are potentially either harmful or no longer required. Deprescribing is important to consider with changing health and care goals over time, as well as polypharmacy and adverse effects. Deprescribing can improve adherence, cost, and health outcomes but may have adverse drug withdrawal effects. More specifically, deprescribing is the planned and supervised process of intentionally stopping a medication or reducing its dose to improve the person's health or reduce the risk of adverse side effects. Deprescribing is usually done because the drug may be causing harm, may no longer be helping the patient, or may be inappropriate for the individual patient's current situation. Deprescribing can help correct polypharmacy and prescription cascade.

Deprescribing is often done with people who have multiple long-term conditions (multimorbidity), for older people, and for people who have a limited life expectancy. In all of these situations, certain medications may contribute to an increased risk of adverse events, and people may benefit from a reduction in the amount of medication taken. The goal of deprescribing is to reduce medication burden and harm, while maintaining or improving quality of life. "Simply because a patient has tolerated a therapy for a long duration does not mean that it remains an appropriate treatment. Thoughtful review of a patient's medication regimen in the context of any changes in medical status and potential future benefits should occur regularly, and those agents that may no longer be necessary should be considered for a trial of medication discontinuation."

The process of deprescribing is usually planned and supervised by health care professionals. To some, the definition of deprescribing includes only completely stopping a medication while to others, deprescribing also includes dose reduction as this can improve quality of life (minimizing side effects) while maintaining benefit.