The Ethics of Deprescribing in Older Adults

Anderson, K., C. Freeman, D. Stowasser, and I. Scott. 2014. Prescriber barriers and enablers to minimising potentially inappropriate medications in adults: A systematic review and thematic synthesis. BMJ Open 4(12): e006544.

Arora, N.K., and C.A. McHorney. 2000. Patient preferences for medical decision making: Who really wants to participate? Medical Care 38(3): 335–341.

Astin, F., S.J. Closs, J. McLenachan, S. Hunter, and C. Priestley. 2008. The information needs of patients treated with primary angioplasty for heart attack: An exploratory study. Patient Education and Counseling 73(2): 325–332.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. 2012. Dementia in Australia. Cat. no. AGE 70. Canberra, AIHW.

Beauchamp, T., and J. Childress. 2012. Principles of biomedical ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Blass, D.M. 2007. The physician–patient relationship in dementia care. Neurotherapeutics 4(3): 545–548.

Boyd, C.M., J. Darer, C. Boult, L.P. Fried, L. Boult, and A.W. Wu. 2005. Clinical practice guidelines and quality of care for older patients with multiple comorbid diseases: Implications for pay for performance. JAMA 294(6): 716–724.

Brewer, T., and G.A. Colditz. 1999. Postmarketing surveillance and adverse drug reactions: Current perspectives and future needs. JAMA 281(9): 824–829.

Campbell, A.J., M.C. Robertson, M.M. Gardner, R.N. Norton, and D.M. Buchner. 1999. Psychotropic medication withdrawal and a home‐based exercise program to prevent falls: A randomized, controlled trial. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 47(7): 850–853.

Chin, M.H., M.L. Drum, L. Jin, M.E. Shook, E.S. Huang, and D.O. Meltzer. 2008. Variation in treatment preferences and care goals among older patients with diabetes and their physicians. Medical Care 46(3): 275–286.

Davies, E.C., C.F. Green, S. Taylor, P.R. Williamson, D.R. Mottram, and M. Pirmohamed. 2009. Adverse drug reactions in hospital in-patients: a prospective analysis of 3695 patient-episodes. PLoS one 4(2): e4439.

de Vries, S.T., F.M. de Vries, T. Dekker, et al. 2015. The role of patients’ age on their preferences for choosing additional blood pressure-lowering drugs: A discrete choice experiment in patients with diabetes. PLoS One 10(10): e0139755.

DeMarco, J.P. 2005. Principlism and moral dilemmas: A new principle. Journal of Medical Ethics 31(2): 101–105.

Dibonaventura, M.D., J.S. Wagner, C.J. Girman, et al. 2010. Multinational Internet-based survey of patient preference for newer oral or injectable Type 2 diabetes medication. Patient Preferences and Adherence 4: 397–406.

Dickenson, D.L. 2000. Are medical ethicists out of touch? Practitioner attitudes in the US and UK towards decisions at the end of life. Journal of Medical Ethics 26(4): 254–260.

Entwistle, V.A., S.M. Carter, A. Cribb, and K. McCaffery. 2010. Supporting patient autonomy: The importance of clinician-patient relationships. Journal of General Internal Medicine 25(7): 741–745.

Fleck, L.M. 2012. Pharmacogenomics and personalized medicine: Wicked problems, ragged edges and ethical precipices. New Biotechnology 29(6): 757–768.

Fowler Jr., F.J., B.S. Gerstein, and M.J. Barry. 2013. How patient centered are medical decisions?: Results of a national survey. JAMA Internal Medicine 173(13): 1215–1221.

Fried, T.R., S. McGraw, J.V. Agostini, and M.E. Tinetti. 2008. Views of older persons with multiple morbidities on competing outcomes and clinical decision-making. Journal of the American Geriatric Society 56(10): 1839–1844.

Fu, A.Z., J.Z. Jiang, J.H. Reeves, J.E. Fincham, G.G. Liu, and M. Perri III. 2007. Potentially inappropriate medication use and healthcare expenditures in the US community-dwelling elderly. Medical Care 45(5): 472–476.

Gallagher, P., P. Barry, and D. O’Mahony. 2007. Inappropriate prescribing in the elderly. Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics 32(2): 113–121.

Garbutt, G., and P. Davies. 2011. Should the practice of medicine be a deontological or utilitarian enterprise? Journal of Medical Ethics 37: 267–270.

Gnjidic, D., S.N. Hilmer, F.M. Blyth, et al. 2012. Polypharmacy cutoff and outcomes: Five or more medicines were used to identify community-dwelling older men at risk of different adverse outcomes. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology 65(9): 989–995.

Gopal, A.A., L. Cosgrove, I. Shuv-Ami, E.E. Wheeler, M.J. Yerganian, and H.J. Bursztajn. 2012. Dynamic informed consent processes vital for treatment with antidepressants. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry 35(5): 392–397.

Harris, J. 1987. QALYfying the value of life. Journal of Medical Ethics 13(3): 117–123.

Hill‐Taylor, B., I. Sketris, J. Hayden, S. Byrne, D. O’Sullivan, and R. Christie. 2013. Application of the STOPP/START criteria: A systematic review of the prevalence of potentially inappropriate prescribing in older adults, and evidence of clinical, humanistic and economic impact. Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics 38(5): 360–372.

Hilmer, S.N., D. Gnjidic, and D.G. Le Couteur. 2012. Thinking through the medication list—Appropriate prescribing and deprescribing in robust and frail older patients. Australian Family Physician 41(12): 924.

Hoffmann, T.C., F. Légaré, M.B. Simmons, et al. 2014. Shared decision making: What do clinicians need to know and why should they bother? The Medical Journal of Australia 201(1): 35–39.

Hope, T. 2000. Acts and omissions revisited. Journal of Medical Ethics 26(4): 227–228.

Iyer, S., V. Naganathan, A.J. McLachlan, and D.G. Le Couteur. 2008. Medication withdrawal trials in people aged 65 years and older: A systematic review. Drugs and Aging 25(12): 1021–1031.

Jonsen, A.R., and S.E. Toulmin. 1988. The abuse of casuistry: A history of moral reasoning. University of California Press.

Karnieli-Miller, O., and Z. Eisikovits. 2009. Physician as partner or salesman? Shared decision-making in real-time encounters. Social Science & Medicine 69(1): 1–8.

Kuczewski, M. 1998. Casuistry and principlism: The convergence of method in biomedical ethics. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 19(6): 509–524.

Le Couteur, D.G., G.A. Ford, and A.J. McLachlan. 2010. Evidence, ethics and medication management in older people. Journal of Pharmacy Practice and Research 40(2): 148.

Le Couteur, D.G., and H. Kendig. 2008. Pharmaco‐epistemology for the prescribing geriatrician. Australasian Journal of Ageing 27(1): 3–7.

Marks, J.R., J.M. Schectman, H. Groninger, and M.L. Plews-Ogan. 2010. The association of health literacy and socio-demographic factors with medication knowledge. Patient Education and Counselling 78(3): 372–376.

Mead, N., and P. Bower. 2000. Patient-centredness: A conceptual framework and review of the empirical literature. Social Science and Medicine 51(7): 1087–1110.

Michie, S., J. Miles, and J. Weinman. 2003. Patient-centredness in chronic illness: What is it and does it matter? Patient Education and Counseling 51(3): 197–206.

Mill, J.S. 1961. Utilitarianism. London: Dent.

Notenboom, K., E. Beers, D.A. van Riet-Nales, et al. 2014. Practical problems with medication use that older people experience: A qualitative study. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 62(12): 2339–2344.

NPS MedicineWise. 2015. National Prescribing Service Limited. http://www.nps.org.au/ . Accessed 13 May, 2015.

Payne, R., and M. Duerden. 2015. Polypharmacy—Appropriate, problematic or both? Prescriber 26(4): 31–34.

Post, S.G., J.C. Stuckey, P.J. Whitehouse, et al. 2001. A focus group on cognition-enhancing medications in Alzheimer disease: Disparities between professionals and consumers. Alzheimer Disease and Associated Disorders 15(2): 80–88.

Qi, K., E. Reeve, S. Hilmer, S.-A. Pearson, S. Matthews, and D. Gnjidic. 2015. Older peoples’ attitudes regarding polypharmacy, statin use and willingness to have statins deprescribed in Australia. International Journal of Clinal Pharmacy 37(5): 949–957.

Rachels, J. 1975. Active and passive euthanasia. New England Journal of Medicine 292(2): 78–80.

Reeve, E., S. Bell, and S. Hilmer. 2014a. Barriers to optimising prescribing and deprescribing in older adults with dementia: A narrative review. Current Clinical Pharmacology 10(3): 168–177.

Reeve, E., D. Gnjidic, J. Long, and S. Hilmer. 2015a. A systematic review of the emerging definition of “deprescribing” with network analysis: Implications for future research and clinical practice. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology 80(6): 1254–1268.

Reeve, E., S. Shakib, I. Hendrix, M.S. Roberts, and M.D. Wiese. 2014b. The benefits and harms of deprescribing. Medical Journal of Australia 201(7): 386–389.

Reeve, E., S. Shakib, I. Hendrix, M.S. Roberts, and M.D. Wiese. 2014c. Review of deprescribing processes and development of an evidence based, patient-centred deprescribing process. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology 78(4): 738–747.

Reeve, E., J. To, I. Hendrix, S. Shakib, M.S. Roberts, and M.D. Wiese. 2013a. Patient barriers to and enablers of deprescribing: A systematic review. Drugs and Aging 30(10): 793–807.

Reeve, E., M.D. Wiese, I. Hendrix, M. Roberts, and S. Shakib. 2013b. People’s attitudes, beliefs, and experiences regarding polypharmacy and willingness to deprescribe. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 61(9): 1508–1514.

Reeve, E., M.D. Wiese, and A.A. Mangoni. 2015b. Alterations in drug disposition in older adults. Expert Opinion on Drug Metabolism & Toxicology 11(4): 491–508.

Rockwood, K. 2014. For how long should we use symptomatic therapies to treat people with Alzheimer Disease. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 59(12): 615–617.

Rossello, X., S.J. Pocock, and D.G. Julian. 2015. Long-term use of cardiovascular drugs: Challenges for research and for patient care. Journal of the American College of Cardiology 66(11): 1273–1285.

Sarnes, E., L. Crofford, M. Watson, G. Dennis, H. Kan, and D. Bass. 2011. Incidence and US costs of corticosteroid-associated adverse events: A systematic literature review. Clinical Therapeutics 33(10): 1413–1432.

Say, R., M. Murtagh, and R. Thomson. 2006. Patients’ preference for involvement in medical decision making: A narrative review. Patient Education and Counselling 60(2): 102–114.

Schneider, A., T. Körner, M. Mehring, M. Wensing, G. Elwyn, and J. Szecsenyi. 2006. Impact of age, health locus of control and psychological co-morbidity on patients’ preferences for shared decision making in general practice. Patient Education and Counseling 61(2): 292–298.

Schuling, J., H. Gebben, L.J.G. Veehof, and F.M. Haaijer-Ruskamp. 2012. Deprescribing medication in very elderly patients with multimorbidity: the view of Dutch GPs. A qualitative study. BMC Family Practice 13(1): 56.

Scott, I.A., S.N. Hilmer, E. Reeve, et al. 2015. Reducing inappropriate polypharmacy: The process of deprescribing. JAMA Internal Medicine 175(5): 827–834.

Shalowitz, D.I., E. Garrett-Mayer, and D. Wendler. 2006. The accuracy of surrogate decision makers: A systematic review. Archives of Internal Medicine 166(5): 493–497.

Silveira, M.J., A.S. Kazanis, and M.P. Shevrin. 2008. Statins in the last six months of life: A recognizable, life-limiting condition does not decrease their use. Journal of Palliative Medicine 11(5): 685–693.

Swinglehurst, D., T. Greenhalgh, J. Russell, and M. Myall. 2011. Receptionist input to quality and safety in repeat prescribing in UK general practice: Ethnographic case study. BMJ 343: d6788.

The American Geriatrics Society Beers Criteria Update Expert Panel. 2012. American Geriatrics Society updated Beers Criteria for potentially inappropriate medication use in older adults. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 60(4): 616–631.

Tjia, J., and J. Givens. 2012. Ethical framework for medication discontinuation in nursing home residents with limited life expectancy. Clinics in Geriatric Medicine 28(2): 255–272.

Tonelli, M.R. 2006. Integrating evidence into clinical practice: an alternative to evidence-based approaches. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice 12(3): 248–256.

Torke, A., G.C. Alexander, and J. Lantos. 2008. Substituted judgment: The limitations of autonomy in surrogate decision making. Journal of General Internal Medicine 23(9): 1514–1517.

Uhlig, K., B. Leff, D. Kent, et al. 2014. A framework for crafting clinical practice guidelines that are relevant to the care and management of people with multimorbidity. Journal of General Internal Medicine 29(4): 670–679.

Van Spall, H.G., A. Toren, A. Kiss, and R.A. Fowler. 2007. Eligibility criteria of randomized controlled trials published in high-impact general medical journals. JAMA 297(11): 1233–1240.

Verduijn, M., A. Leendertse, A. Moeselaar, N. de Wit, and R. van Marum. 2013. Multidisciplinaire richtlijn polyfarmacie bij ouderen [Multidisciplinary guideline for polypharmacy in the elderly]. Huisarts en Wetenschap 56(8): 414–419.

Wittink, M.N., K.H. Morales, L.A. Meoni, et al. 2008. Stability of preferences for end-of-life treatment after 3 years of follow-up: The Johns Hopkins Precursors Study. Archive of Internal Medicine 168(19): 2125–2130.

Zermansky, A. 1996. Who controls repeats? British Journal of General Practice 46(412): 643.