OBJECTIVES: We assessed Ethiopian older patients’ willingness to have their medications deprescribed at the outpatient clinics of University of Gondar referral and teaching hospital (UoGRTH) in Ethiopia.

METHODS: This was Institutional-based quantitative cross-sectional survey. Older patients aged 65 or greater with at least one medication were enrolled in the study from March 1 to June 30, 2017 using a validated tool of revised Patients’ Attitudes towards Deprescribing (rPATD) for older patients.

RESULTS: Of 316 older patients enrolled in this study, 54.7 % were men; the median number of their daily medications was3 (IQR: 2-4). Most of the participants (81.6%; 95CI: 77%-86%) were willing to stop one or more of their medications if advised by doctor even if a significant number of participants were overall satisfied with medications they were taking (92.1%; 95CI: 89%-95%). This willingness was correlated with seven items of the rPATD including strong correlation with overall satisfaction of patients with their medication taken.

CONCLUSIONS: Most of the participants (81.6%) were still willing to reduce one or more of their medications if advised by their doctor. Health care providers should be proactive to discuss, evaluate and decision making of potentially in appropriate medications. Further study with potentially large number of study participants and qualitative study is warranted to fully evaluate the deprescribing attitude in different disease categories and prospective significance to Ethiopian elderly patients’ health.