A Surprising Number of Gen Xers and Millennials Can't Figure Out a Pill Bottle

Key Points:

• Research from Northwestern University reveals that about one-third of millennial and Gen X Americans struggle with health literacy, including tasks like reading pill bottles and following medical instructions.
• The MidCog project studied roughly 1,000 middle-aged adults (ages 35-64) and found 13.2% had low health literacy, while 19.3% had marginal literacy, which correlated with difficulties in medication management and more chronic health conditions.
• Researchers emphasize that the issue is systemic, calling for clearer, more intuitive health communication and drug labeling to better support patients in managing complex health demands.
• The ongoing MidCog study aims to track participants over time to understand how midlife health literacy impacts long-term health outcomes and to develop strategies to improve healthcare engagement for middle-aged adults.
• The findings were published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, highlighting the need for healthcare systems to adapt in order to better assist patients with varying levels of health literacy.