Lack of basic medical literacy can cause early deaths, study finds

GlobalPost

A lack of basic medical literacy may cause early deaths in adults over the age of 65, a new study in the British Medical Journal has found

The report surveyed almost 8,000 adults in England aged 52 and older, and had them complete a test of functional health literacy, testing their ability to use reading skills to understand health-related information, Health Day reported.

The survey had four simple comprehension-style questions, such as "What is the maximum number of days you may take this medicine?" and "List three situations for which you should consult a doctor," the Telegraph reported. The answers were on a sample medicine bottle's label. 

One third of the participants failed to answer all four questions correctly, and one in eight got two or more answers wrong, according to the Telegraph. 

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The researchers from University of College London then divided the scores into high, medium, and low literacy rates, and monitored the group for five years, until October 2009. 

The researchers found that the group with the lowest literacy scores experienced the highest rate of deaths, followed by the group with medium scores and then high scores, according to CBC News. Those with low and medium health literacy had respectively a 75 percent and 24 percent increased risk of death.

"You can't say the higher death rates are due to these people not reading medicine labels — the reasons for them dying early are complex — but poor literacy is certainly an indicator that they are more vulnerable," said Sophie Bostock, a research associate at UCL's Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, the Telegraph reported. "We do think there's something specific about underlying literacy that has an impact on mortality."

The researchers found that lower health literacy was linked to a higher prevalence of depressive symptoms, physical limitations and chronic diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, stroke and asthma, whereas higher health literacy scores were linked to stronger cognitive abilities, including verbal fluency and working memory, BBC News reported

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