Prescribing Outcomes of a GP-Targeted Deprescribing Educational Intervention: A Cluster Randomized Trial

February 4, 2026 updated by: Alexandros Paraskevopoulos, University of Crete

Prescribing Outcomes of a General Practitioner-Targeted Deprescribing Educational Intervention in Older Adults With Polypharmacy: A Cluster Randomized Trial

Polypharmacy is a common and growing public health concern across healthcare settings worldwide and is associated with an increased risk of inappropriate prescribing and adverse drug events. Deprescribing-defined as the supervised withdrawal of potentially inappropriate medications using structured tools and clinical judgment-has been proposed as a strategy to improve prescribing safety. In Greece, formal initiatives and evidence evaluating deprescribing interventions in primary care remain limited.

This study is a cluster randomized controlled trial evaluating the effect of an educational intervention for general practitioners (GPs) on prescribing safety in primary care. Participating GPs are randomized in an approximately 1:1 ratio to an intervention or control arm. GPs in the intervention arm receive structured education and training on medication review and deprescribing, including the use of validated deprescribing tools such as the Beers Criteria. GPs in the control arm provide usual care and do not receive any educational intervention.

Patients receiving care from participating GPs are recruited, and prescribing outcomes are assessed at the patient level. The primary outcome is change in prescription medications following the intervention, comparing patients cared for by GPs in the intervention arm versus those cared for by GPs in the control arm.

Study Overview

Status

Active, not recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

200

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Greece
    • Heraklion, Crete
      • Heraklion, Heraklion, Crete, Greece, 71303
        • Primary Care Facilities

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • community-dwelling patients
  • Age ≥ 65 years
  • Receive at least 5 medication ( polypharmacy )

Exclusion Criteria:

  • hospitalized or patients living in nursing home
  • Incapable of giving written consent

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Other
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Control Arm
No educational intervention will be provided to the general practitioners of the selected patients.
Experimental: Intervention Arm
An educational intervention and training in deprescribing algorithms and deprescribing tools ( Beers Criteria) will be provided to the general practitioners caring for the patients selected in the intervention arm.
Other: Medication Reviews and Deprescribing
General Practitioners will be given training and education in deprescribing algorithms and the conduction of medication reviews with the use of validated deprescribing tools such as the Beers Criteria.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Potentially Inappropriate Medication
Time Frame: 1 years
Determine if there is reduction in potentially Inappropriate medication after a deprescribing education intervention
1 years
Number of medications
Time Frame: 1 year
Determine if there is reduction in number of medications after a deprescribing education intervention
1 year

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Health-Related Quality of Life
Time Frame: 1 year
Evaluate if there is change in Health-Related Quality of Life using a validated questionnaire
1 year
Medication adherence
Time Frame: 1 year
Evaluate if there is change in medication adherence using a validated questionnaire
1 year
Frailty Status
Time Frame: 1 year
evaluation of frailty using a validated score
1 year
Depression
Time Frame: 1 year
evaluation of geriatric depression using a validated questionnaire
1 year
Fear of falling
Time Frame: 1 year
Evaluate if there is change in fear of falling using a validated questionnaire
1 year
Number of falls
Time Frame: 1 year
evaluation of self-reported falls
1 year
Emergency department visits and hospitalisations
Time Frame: 1 year
Evaluation of the number of emergency department visits and hospitalisations (self reported)
1 year

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Crete

Investigators

  • Study Chair: Ioanna Tsiligianni, MD, PhD, Associate Professor in General Practice and Public Health, Department of Social Medicine, University of Crete

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

November 18, 2024

Primary Completion (Actual)

December 30, 2025

Study Completion (Estimated)

March 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 17, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 17, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

June 24, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

February 9, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 4, 2026

Last Verified

February 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 93/12.06.2023

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

All the data that will be collected, will be retained only during the period needed for the aims of this research. Technical and organizational measures will be taken in order to minimize potential loss, destruction or corruption of the data.After the completion of the thesis , all the data will be destroyed.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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