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Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and benzodiazepines were the medicines most likely to be deprescribed by general practice pharmacists during structured medication reviews (SMRs) in an analysis recently published in the British Journal of General Practice. 

Looking at electronic primary care records for consultations carried out with patients aged 65 and over between April 1, 2020 and September 30, 2022, the researchers found that one in eight eligible patients (82,285 out of a total of 635,698 patients from 783 surgeries) received a SMR during the study observation period.

“Structured medication reviews were associated with an increased likelihood of starting medication in those not previously prescribed treatment, and an increased likelihood of stopping medications in those with existing prescriptions,” the authors commented. 

“In those prescribed potentially inappropriate drug combinations prior to an SMR, between 12.5 per cent and 40.0 per cent were corrected up to three months later,” they added. 

The drug classes most commonly stopped following a SMR were NSAIDs (29.6 per cent stopped), benzodiazepines (22.3 per cent) and laxatives (19.9 per cent). 

The drugs most likely to be started were PPIs (11.3 per cent started), statins (7.7 per cent), opioids (7.6 per cent) and laxatives (6.4 per cent).  

“The majority of patients had no changes in their treatment following a SMR,” the authors added.

They were unable to access data on decisions to change the dose of a prescribed medicine following a SMR, which they described as “likely to be an important aspect” of the reviews. 

They added that due to limited data “it is unclear if the observed changes in prescribing resulted in improvements in patient outcomes”.