RPS Conference 2010, Abstracts 2010 - Royal Pharmaceutical Society

would influence their decision to take the medicine (r = 0.128, p=0.002) and that there was a
greater chance of benefitting from the medicine (r = 0.109, p=0.01).
Conclusions.
Individuals’ ability to accurately estimate side effect risk was associated with their level of
numeracy. As such, care will need to be taken with ‘universal’ information that is intended for all
medicine users. In addition it would be important for practitioners to gauge patients’ level of
numerical understanding when talking with them about risk. Further research is needed to
better understand the influences of numeracy on the understanding of, and attitudes to, risks
associated with medicines.
References
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2. Knapp P, Raynor D K, Woolf E, Gardner P H, Carrigan N, McMillan B. Communicating the
risk of side effects to patients: an evaluation of UK regulatory recommendations. Drug Safety
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3. Wright, A J, Whitwell S C L, Takeichi C, Hankins M, Marteau T M. The impact of numeracy on
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