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(HealthDay)—Adult diabetes patients who don't understand basic health information are less likely to continue taking newly prescribed antidepressants, a new study finds. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-poor-health-literacy-patients-meds.html Medications Wed, 27 Mar 2013 19:30:01 EST news283630376 In the first study of its kind, researchers at the Columbia University School of Nursing have established that poor health literacy among Latino parents is associated with a poor understanding of the proper use antibiotics, particularly for upper respiratory infections (URIs), which can lead to an increase in antimicrobial resistance. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-parental-misconceptions-antibiotics-linked-poor.html Medications Mon, 04 Feb 2013 08:56:06 EST news279190443 HIV patients who participated in an intervention that helped them identify barriers to taking their drugs properly and develop customized coping strategies took a significantly greater amount of their prescribed doses than those receiving standard care, according to a new study from researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The results, published this week in JAMA Internal Medicine, may point to a new strategy to improve adherence to medications for many other conditions. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-personalized-barriers-hiv-drug-adherence.html HIV & AIDS Tue, 29 Jan 2013 11:57:23 EST news278683034 (HealthDay)—Minority patients in the United States are less likely than whites to be screened for colorectal cancer, a new study finds. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-minorities-colon-cancer-screening.html Cancer Tue, 15 Jan 2013 14:20:02 EST news277477931 The ability to correctly identify signs of depression depends on the gender of both the identifier and the person with depression, as well as individual psychological differences, according to research published November 14 by Viren Swami from the University of Westminster, UK. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-people-symptoms-depression-readily-women.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 14 Nov 2012 18:10:04 EST news272130570 (Medical Xpress)—Photos of happy, smiling faces on patient education websites may engage readers, but they also may have a negative impact on older adults' comprehension of vital health information, especially those elderly patients who are the least knowledgeable about their medical condition to begin with, suggests a new study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-images-health-websites-lessen-comprehension.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 28 Aug 2012 07:01:56 EST news265356049 Is it possible for a health care system to redesign its services to better educate patients to deal with their immediate health issues and also become more savvy consumers of medicine in the long run? http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-dont-widespread-gaps-health-literacy.html Health Fri, 03 Aug 2012 15:01:12 EST news263224853 (HealthDay) -- About 20 percent of patients diagnosed with stage IV metastatic solid tumors do not receive anticancer treatment, according to a study published online June 15 in Cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-therapy-percent-stage-iv-solid.html Cancer Sat, 23 Jun 2012 06:58:31 EST news259653498 A significant number of adults are at risk of unintentionally overdosing on over-the-counter (OTC) pain medication, according to a new study in the US by Dr. Michael Wolf, from Northwestern University in Chicago, and his colleagues. Their work, looking at the prevalence and potential misuse of pain medication containing the active ingredient acetaminophen as well as the likelihood of overdosing, appears online in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-misuse-over-the-counter-pain-medication-potential.html Medications Wed, 30 May 2012 10:09:36 EST news257591301 One in three older people who have difficulty reading and understanding basic health related information may be at increased risk of death, concludes a study published in the British Medical Journal today. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-poor-literacy-skills-linked-mortality.html Health Thu, 15 Mar 2012 18:30:02 EST news251052605 The risk of serious side-effects associated with a common blood-thinning medication are related to elderly patients misunderstanding medical instructions, according to new research. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-poor-health-literacy-medication-side-effects.html Medications Thu, 01 Mar 2012 11:05:58 EST news249822348 A patient's education level is not a fail-safe predictor of how well they will manage symptoms related to complicated chronic diseases, such as heart failure, according to a Purdue University study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-heart-failure-health-literate-patients-adept.html Cardiology Thu, 15 Dec 2011 11:38:06 EST news243171476 Oncologists and their patients are increasingly challenged with making difficult decisions about screening, prevention and treatment. Unfortunately, most patients are neither armed with adequate knowledge nor the means of interpreting the information they do have in a qualitatively and quantitatively useful way. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-cancer-patients.html Cancer Mon, 19 Sep 2011 16:58:31 EST news235670052 When pharmacies, doctors' offices and homes were destroyed by the tornado in Joplin, Mo., so were the medication records of many patients. Pharmacists who helped out report that many people could not recall the names of their prescription drugs or the dosages they were taking. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-drug-prescriptions-users.html Medications Mon, 27 Jun 2011 13:50:01 EST news228398682 When teens start experiencing changes in moods or emotions, they tend to fear sharing their blue days with their families and adults who can help them. As a consequence, they often suffer in silence. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-ways-teens-stigmas-mental-illness.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 06 Jun 2011 10:04:08 EST news226573437 An Indiana University study examining disparities in physical fitness levels between older adults who are patients of safety net community health centers (CHC) and those who are members of a medically affiliated fitness center is producing stunning results. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-health-disparities-physical.html Health Sat, 04 Jun 2011 10:38:26 EST news226402685 Younger patients (under age 65) and those with lower health literacy were less likely to stick with telemonitoring technology for tracking their heart failure condition, compared to older patients and those with high health literacy skills, according to new research. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-younger-patients-health-literacy-telemonitoring.html Other Thu, 12 May 2011 16:36:32 EST news224436974 Income is a pivotal factor in whether a patient without common symptoms of celiac disease is accurately diagnosed with the digestive condition, according to a new study from the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, MA. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-socioeconomic-status-celiac-disease-diagnosis.html Cardiology Sun, 08 May 2011 11:42:55 EST news224073746 As the presence of social media continues to increase as a form of communication, health organizations are searching for the most effective ways to use the online tools to pass important information to the public. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri have found that nonprofit organizations and community groups appear to be more actively engaged in posting health information and interacting with the public on Twitter than other types of health-related organizations, such as health business corporations, educational institutions and government agencies. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-nonprofit-health-literacy-social-media.html Health Wed, 04 May 2011 10:38:41 EST news223724302 People take billions of doses of over-the-counter pain relievers like Tylenol every year, but many do not pay attention to the active ingredients they contain, such as acetaminophen, according to a new Northwestern Medicine study. That lack of knowledge about popular pain relievers plus particular ignorance of acetaminophen's presence in more than 600 over-the-counter and prescription medicines could be a key reason acetaminophen overdose has become the leading cause of acute liver failure in the U.S. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-ingredients-pain-relievers.html Medications Tue, 03 May 2011 04:37:59 EST news223616196 Low health literacy is a significant barrier to quality care, especially among elderly patients, but increased use of simple and effective health literacy assessment tests by nurses and clinicians can help improve communication and health outcomes. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-health-literacy-underutilized-elderly-cancer.html Health Fri, 29 Apr 2011 16:30:48 EST news223313429