Poor 'Health Literacy' Keeps Patients From Taking Meds

Adult diabetes patients who don't understand basic health information are less likely to continue taking newly prescribed antidepressants, a new study finds.

This is an important issue because depression in adults with diabetes is often chronic and may require long-term treatment with medication, the researchers said.

The nearly 1,400 patients in the study were followed for 12 months after being prescribed an antidepressant. Most of the patients filled the prescription at least once, but 43 percent did not refill the prescription and nearly two-thirds had stopped taking their antidepressant medication by the end of the study.

The investigators found that 72 percent of the patients struggled to understand basic health instructions, which the study authors called "limited health literacy." These patients were much less likely to keep taking their antidepressants than those with good health literacy, the authors said in a news release from Kaiser Permanente.