[STOPPFrail version 2: a tool for deprescription in medicine, validated in Italian language.] / Strumenti a supporto della deprescrizione in medicina: la versione italiana dello STOPPFrail2.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Deprescribing, i.e. the suspension of drugs whose existing or potential harms outweigh the benefits in the context of care for the individual patient, is an increasingly frequently encountered topic in various congresses today. This issue becomes predominant especially in patients with chronic pathologies with a life expectancy of less than a year, in whom the goal of the treatments passes from healing to caring. Currently there are few validated deprescribing tools, one of these is certainly the STOPPFrail, currently available in its second version. Therefore, we decided to provide for the translation into Italian, to make the description for the elderly patient with limited life expectation more applicable. METHODS: For the translation, we used the method expressed by the European organisation for research and treatment of cancer (Eortc), using forward-backward translation and a Pilot Testing to verify the clarity and comprehensibility of the translation itself. RESULTS: We interviewed 15 experts, of whom 13 responded and completed the evaluation, without bringing to light any unclear sections or sources of misunderstanding. CONCLUSIONS: STOPPFrail2 can be a valid deprescribing tool in the elderly with limited life expectancy; the Italian version can help the physicians in the therapeutic appropriateness in this time of life where it is necessary to focus on the quality of life and on the ethical aspect of the choices, as well as being of help in a "cost-opportunity" logic.