Difficulty understanding drug labels, due to low literacy on health-related topics, is associated with higher mortality. This was found in a study, published in the British medical journal and conducted at the University of College London, which involved around 8,000 adults over the age of 52. The researchers assessed the level of understanding of the indications for use of the medicines. The test that the volunteers were subjected to consisted of four questions, one of which was "What is the maximum number of days you can take this drug?". Questions which, however, could be answered by consulting the leaflet. A third of the adults questioned gave at least one wrong answer and one in eight gave two or more wrong answers. A higher likelihood of misstatement could be associated with socioeconomic indicators, particularly older age, low income, low education, and ethnic minority backgrounds. In the following five years, the health degree of the volunteers was also monitored and overall 621 deaths were recorded, with a higher percentage among those who had given more wrong answers: 16% among those who had given two or more wrong answers against 9% among those who answered correctly.
March 19, 2012 – Pharmacist33
BMJ 2012; 344 (Published March 15, 2012) 
Research
Association between low functional health literacy and mortality in older adults
Published 15 Mar 2012
