ABSTRACT
Polypharmacy, which is the practice of prescribing five or more medicines to the same patient is associated withmany problems like adverse drug reactions and poor adherence to therapy and can be harmful. Recently, the termdeprescribing is used to describe the systematic process of identifying and discontinuing medicines in situationsin which potential or existing harms outweigh potential or existing benefits for the seek of individual patient caregoals and preferences. Many studies assessed the attitude of patients or perceptions of health care practitionerstowards deprescribing, others evaluated barriers or factors affecting deprescribing. Since the practice ofdeprescribing is growing, this study aimed to review the harms, benefits, and barriers of deprescribing. Somestudies reported that patients may be interested in withdrawing one or more of their medicines if advised by theirtreating doctors and at the same time costs and experiencing medication adverse effects may result in awillingness to decrease the number of medications taken. Harms that may occur due to deprescribing can beminimized or even prevented by using a structured and patient-specific deprescribing process with properplanning and careful monitoring during and after medication withdrawal.