The revised patient attitudes to deprescribing (rPATD) questionnaire: an investigation using a large anonymized database

Stopping or “deprescribing” one or more of a patient’s medications is a growing focus for clinical practice and health service research. A deprescribing questionnaire survey, the revised Patient’s Attitudes Towards Deprescribing (rPATD), has been developed and validated in Australia. The aim of this study was to explore the use of the rPATD in a large Welsh population. The rPATD was made available through HealthWise Wales, a platform that enables people in Wales to volunteer to participate in research. Questionnaire data were explored descriptively and using a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) on the original four factors in the rPATD (Burden, Appropriateness, Concern, and Involvement). A total of 1759 patients completed questionnaires. The mean age was 58.6, each prescribed on average 3.69 medicines (range 1–34). In total 75.1% (1303/1735) agreed or strongly agreed that they would be willing to have a medicine deprescribed, if suggested by a doctor, and 19.0% (333/1749) would like to try stopping a medicine. A CFA was performed using maximum likelihood and showed a mediocre fit (RMSEA = 0.083). A Mann–Whitney U test revealed an association between feeling the burden of medicine taking or expressing a belief in the inappropriateness of their medication and a greater willingness to stop medicine if suggested by a doctor (BURDEN Z = −5.6, P≤.0001; appropriateness Z = −9.6, P≤.0001). Willingness to have a medicine deprescribed was lower than in previous research, likely due to a range of reported factors. The potential value of rPATD has been demonstrated for future UK-wide applications.