The Patient Typology about deprescribing and medication-related decisions: A quantitative exploration.

This study aimed to test the adequacy of a quantitative measure of our qualitatively-developed Patient Typology - categories of older adults' attitudes towards medicines and medicine decision-making - and identify characteristics associated with each Typology. We conducted secondary data analyses of a subset of survey item measures of adults (≥65 years) who were members of online survey panels in Australia, the UK, the US, and the Netherlands (n=4,688). Multinomial logistic regression analyses assessed associations between demographic, psychosocial, and medication-related measures. Mean age was 71.5 (5) and 47.5% of participants were female. Factors associated with an increased likelihood of identifying with Typology 1 'Attached to medicines' over Typology 2 'Open to deprescribing' were higher positive attitude towards polypharmacy (RRR=1.12, p =<.001) and higher need for certainty (RRR=1.11, p=.039). Factors associated with an increased likelihood of identifying with Typology 3 'Defers (medication decision-making) to others' over Typology 2 were older age (RRR=1.47 per 10-year age increase, p=<.001) and a decreased likelihood of prior deprescribing experience (RRR=0.73, p=.033). This study provides validation of the Typology with large samples from four countries, with the quantitatively-measured typologies generally aligning with the qualitatively-derived categories. Our Patient Typology measure provides a succinct way researchers can assess attitudes towards deprescribing.