NCT05307666

MinMed: Do Older Adults do Better With Less Medication

ENROLLING BY INVITATION Phase 4 Last updated 9 January 2026

What this trial tests

Phase 4 trial testing Medication minimization in Aging in 1,800 participants. Enrolling by invitation.

Timeline

28 July 2022

Primary endpoint
30 September 2028

30 September 2028

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	University of Alberta
Phase	Phase 4
Status	ENROLLING BY INVITATION
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	randomized
Design	parallel
Masking	double
Primary purpose	prevention
Enrollment	1,800
Start date	28 July 2022
Primary completion	30 September 2028
Estimated completion	30 September 2028
Sites	1 location across Canada

Drugs / interventions tested

• Medication minimization

Conditions studied

• Aging — all drugs for Aging →
• Adverse Drug Interaction — all drugs for Adverse Drug Interaction →
• Frailty — all drugs for Frailty →

Sponsor

University of Alberta

Who can join

80 and older, any sex, with Aging or Adverse Drug Interaction. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Sponsor's own description

Many health care providers believe "less-is-more" for older adults, and evidence suggests minimizing certain medications might improve health outcomes. While this evidence focuses on specific medications believed potentially problematic for seniors, it is really adverse reactions to COMMON medications (e.g. medications lowering blood sugar or treating pain) that bring older adults to emergency departments.

Knowing recommended drug doses are lower in seniors, and knowing most adverse drug reactions are dose-related, the investigators are organizing primary care providers (family physicians and nurse practitioners) to invite their patients 80 years and older on 6 or more medications to review with them whether some medications could be safely reduced.

For drugs treating a symptom (e.g. heartburn), patients and providers will work together to find the lowest dose that provides the same benefit. For drugs that lower blood pressure or blood sugar, doses will be adjusted to keep blood pressure and blood sugar in the upper end of the target range, a range many providers feel to be safer for older adults.

Each provider will invite half their eligible patients to a minimization visit at the start of the study, and invite the other half later - after the health effects of minimizing the early group's medications is assessed. To do this, investigators will compare early minimizers to those whose medicines have not yet changed using electronic health data routinely collected on all Albertans. We hypothesize that minimizing medications will prolong independence, reduce mortality and hospitalization, and improve quality of life.

It is important to recognize that the intervention (reviewing all medications and determining the lowest effective doses) is already widely recommended as best practice when prescribing for older adults. Despite this however, such medication reviews only infrequently take place. In this study investigators hope to demonstrate that family physicians can minimize their own prescribing, and that organizing providers in a way that permits such reviews to take place can provide health benefits to patients.

Publications & conference data

1 peer-reviewed publication reference this trial (live from Europe PMC):

1. Withdrawal of antihypertensive drugs in older people.
   Gnjidic D, Langford AV, Jordan V, Sawan M, et al · · 2025 · cited 7× · PMID 40162571 · DOI 10.1002/14651858.cd012572.pub3