More than 82% of Americans age 50 to 80 take one or more kinds of prescription medication, and 80% of them say they'd be open to stopping one or more of those drugs if their health care provider gave the green light, a new University of Michigan study shows. But it's not as simple as that, the researchers say. They call for prescribers and pharmacists to talk with older adults about their personal situation and figure out if any kind of "deprescribing" is right for them.
The study, published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine , uses data from U-M's National Poll on Healthy Aging, and builds on a poll report issued in April 2023. It shows that about 30% of older adults who take medication to address cardiovascular disease or diabetes are most interested in deprescribing these medications. This might be because many of those drugs address symptomless risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and high blood sugar.
Left uncontrolled, these risk factors can set the stage for future emergencies and crises. So medications to manage these conditions are important preventive tools. However, older adults may not immediately feel the benefit of these medications, which may cause them to wonder if they continue to be needed.
In contrast, the study shows that older adults whose prescriptions address conditions that cause symptoms right now -; including arthritis pain, mental health conditions and breathing issues -;were less interested in stopping those medicatio.