TY - JOUR T1 - Deprescribing for all: a narrative review identifying inappropriate polypharmacy for all ages in hospital settings JF - BMJ Open Quality JO - BMJ Open Qual DO - 10.1136/bmjoq-2021-001509 VL - 10 IS - 3 SP - e001509 AU - Ali Elbeddini AU - Monakshi Sawhney AU - Yasamin Tayefehchamani AU - Zekiye Yilmaz AU - Ahmed Elshahawi AU - Josiah Josh Villegas AU - Janelyn Dela Cruz Y1 - 2021/07/01 UR - http://bmjopenquality.bmj.com/content/10/3/e001509.abstract N2 - The most common definition of polypharmacy is the concurrent use of 5 or more non-prescription and prescription medications by a single individual.1 There may be some instances of appropriate polypharmacy where therapy is optimised; however, for most cases, many medications may be unnecessary and even harmful.2 Polypharmacy has become a growing concern especially in ageing and at-risk populations due to its association with increased adverse drug events (ADE), drug interactions and decreased medication adherence.3 4 To reduce the incidence of polypharmacy and its consequences, healthcare providers have turned to deprescribing, the systematic process of identifying inappropriate medications to discontinue or taper down. Medications are inappropriate when they are no longer indicated or effective, and their existing or potential harms outweigh the benefits within the context of a patient’s treatment goals, current level of functioning, life expectancy, values and preferences.The majority of discussion and research surrounding deprescribing has focused on older adults largely due to the prevalence of polypharmacy in this population. Canadian data from 2016 show that about one in four elderly patients were prescribed 10 or more drug classes, the most common being statins, ACE inhibitors and proton-pump inhibitors. In addition, almost half (49.4%) were prescribed at least one medication from the Beer’s list, and 18% were prescribed multiple drugs from the list (online supplemental abstract 1).5 The abundance of research data in geriatrics have led to the development of deprescribing guidelines and algorithms for practitioners to use. Although older adults are more sensitive to the side effects of medications and disproportionately experience medication-related harms, it would be valuable to investigate opportunities for deprescribing in patients under the age of 65 with multiple comorbidities and polypharmacy who may also benefit from the process.6 7Supplementary data[bmjoq-2021-001509supp001.pdf]This article highlights the importance of deprescribing for … ER -