title: Improving pregnancy drug warnings to promote patient comprehension.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We sought to evaluate the effectiveness of a pharmaceutical labeling strategy intended to improve comprehension of a teratogen warning.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a secondary analysis that evaluated women of childbearing age who were assigned prescription containers with the current teratogen warning, a label with simplified text, or a label with simplified text and icons. The association between label type and understanding of label instructions was assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 132 women were interviewed. Comprehension of the icon label (94%) was higher than for the standard and enhanced text-only labels (76% and 79%), respectively (P < .05). Adjustment for age, race/ethnicity, education, literacy, and number of current medications revealed that the label with the enhanced text and icon yielded superior comprehension (risk ratio vs standard, 1.26; 95% confidence interval, 1.04-1.53; risk ratio vs enhanced, 1.22; 95% confidence interval, 1.02-1.46).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In our study, a teratogen warning label that had easy-to-read messages with icons significantly improved comprehension.
authors.affiliation: Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA. whitney.you@med.navy.mil
authors.forename: Whitney B
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: You
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Grobman
authors.forename: Terry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: Laura M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Curtis
authors.forename: Stacy Cooper
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Bailey
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wolf
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D032882:Comprehension; D004348:Drug Labeling; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D055553:Prescription Drugs; D011932:Reading; D013723:Teratogens
chemical_list: D055553:Prescription Drugs; D013723:Teratogens