title: Health literacy and medication understanding among hospitalized adults.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Patients' ability to accurately report their preadmission medications is a vital aspect of medication reconciliation, and may affect subsequent medication adherence and safety. Little is known about predictors of preadmission medication understanding.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a cross-sectional evaluation of patients at 2 hospitals using a novel Medication Understanding Questionnaire (MUQ). MUQ scores range from 0 to 3 and test knowledge of the medication purpose, dose, and frequency. We used multivariable ordinal regression to determine predictors of higher MUQ scores.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among the 790 eligible patients, the median age was 61 (interquartile range [IQR] 52, 71), 21% had marginal or inadequate health literacy, and the median number of medications was 8 (IQR 5, 11). Median MUQ score was 2.5 (IQR 2.2, 2.8). Patients with marginal or inadequate health literacy had a lower odds of understanding their medications (odds ratio [OR] = 0.53; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.34 to 0.84; P = 0.0001; and OR = 0.49; 95% CI, 0.31 to 0.78; P = 0.0001; respectively), compared to patients with adequate health literacy. Higher number of prescription medications was associated with lower MUQ scores (OR = 0.52; 95% CI, 0.36 to 0.75; for those using 6 medications vs 1; P = 0.0019), as was impaired cognitive function (OR = 0.57; 95% CI, 0.38 to 0.86; P = 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Lower health literacy, lower cognitive function, and higher number of medications each were independently associated with less understanding of the preadmission medication regimen. Clinicians should be aware of these factors when considering the accuracy of patient-reported medication regimens, and counseling patients about safe and effective medication use.
authors: School of Pharmacy, Belmont University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
authors: Marketa
authors: M
authors: Marvanova
authors: Christianne L
authors: CL
authors: Roumie
authors: Svetlana K
authors: SK
authors: Eden
authors: Courtney
authors: C
authors: Cawthon
authors: Jeffrey L
authors: JL
authors: Schnipper
authors: Sunil
authors: S
authors: Kripalani
mesh_terms: D001364:Awareness; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D064420:Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions; D004521:Educational Measurement; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D057220:Health Literacy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016903:Drug Monitoring