Table 1

Deprescribing recommendation characteristics

Direction of deprescribing recommendations (n=316)
 For deprescribing*288 (91%)
 Against deprescribing†28 (9%)
Readability score‡ of deprescribing recommendations (n=316)
 Mean (SD)17.3 (3.54)
Complexity score§ of deprescribing recommendations (n=316)
 Mean (SD)40.7 (10.85)
Evidence-based recommendation (EBR) or good practice statements (GPS) (n=316)
 EBR248 (78%)
 GPS68 (22%)
Strength of EBRs (n=248)
 Strong¶41 (17%)
 Weak or conditional**77 (31%)
 Consensus17 (7%)
 Not specified113 (46%)
Certainty of evidence for EBRs (n=248)
 High5 (2%)
 Moderate25 (10%)
 Low32 (13%)
 Very low43 (17%)
 No evidence1 (0.4%)
 Not specified142 (57%)
  • *Recommendations about for Who, What, When, How or Why to deprescribe were considered For deprescribing.

  • †Recommendations advising on when not to deprescribe were considered Against deprescribing.

  • ‡A lower grade reading score means the text is easier to read. Grade 8 or lower is appropriate for most audiences.

  • §A lower complexity score means the text is easier to read. Higher complexity suggests a higher use of words that are uncommon in English.

  • ¶Strong recommendations suggest that all or almost all persons would choose that intervention.43

  • **Conditional/weak recommendations imply that there is likely to be an important variation in the decision that informed persons are likely to make.43