Understanding polypharmacy in people with type 2 diabetes
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Understanding polypharmacy in people with type 2 diabetes: A qualitative study and discrete choice experiment
IRAS ID
346943
Contact name
David McAllister
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
NHS GG&C Research and Innovation (R&I)
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 10 months, 25 days
Research summary
Many people with type 2 diabetes are prescribed multiple medications. This includes medications for the management of diabetes, to manage risk factors linked to diabetes, and for other conditions. The use of multiple medications (typically 5 or more) is referred to as polypharmacy. Polypharmacy can be an appropriate response to managing long-term health conditions, particularly when individuals have multiple long-term conditions. However, polypharmacy can also have potentially negative implications for individuals. These include the burden of taking multiple medications, the risk of side effects of interactions, and the impact of these factors on quality of life.
This project seeks to understand the experience of people living with type 2 diabetes and who are taking multiple medications, and their views on the subject of deprescribing (reducing or stopping medications). We will also explore the views and experiences of healthcare professionals involved in the care of people with type 2 diabetes.
Our aims are:
To understand the lived experience of people with type 2 diabetes who are taking multiple medications (polypharmacy), including the positive and negative aspects of multiple medications, through qualitative interviews.
Understand the attitudes and experience of people with type 2 diabetes to deprescribing of medications (the stopping or reduction of medication).
Understand the attitudes and experience of healthcare professionals involved in care for people with type 2 diabetes in terms of polypharmacy and deprescribing.
To identify what attributes of polypharmacy people with type 2 diabetes value most and what they find most burdensome, assessed through a discrete choice experiment survey.
REC name
East of England - Cambridge South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
25/EE/0049
Date of REC Opinion
20 Mar 2025
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion