Can existing tools predict older adults' willingness to deprescribe? Considerations for D-PRESCRIBE's post-hoc secondary analysis

Turner et al.‘s post-hoc secondary analysis of the D-PRESCRIBE trial (Patients beliefs and attitudes towards deprescribing: can deprescribing success be predicted?)1,2 describes the low predictive validity of current tools available for assessing patients' willingness to deprescribe their medications, including the Patients' Attitudes Towards Deprescribing questionnaire (PATD).3 We would like to note that the D-PRESCRIBE study used the original version of the PATD. The revised PATD (rPATD),4 published in 2016, underwent greater validation than the original, includes a scoring utility and captures a greater number of potential deprescribing barriers/enablers. Utilizing the rPATD might have therefore provided improved prediction of successful deprescribing.