Health News Many people know too little about diseases

A quarter of the population has clear knowledge gaps
Many people in this country are insufficiently informed about diseases. This is the result of a representative study by the Institute of Medical Sociology of the Berlin Charité and the pharmaceutical company Pfizer. According to that, more than 50 percent of Germans would have "moderate" health knowledge, but a quarter would have significant knowledge gaps.
Patients and doctors alike benefit from good health knowledge
Medical knowledge is becoming increasingly important nowadays because it can significantly affect the success of the treatment. "Only when people are well informed can they talk clearly with their doctor about their symptoms and needs in case of illness," said the director of the Institute for Medical Sociology at the Berlin Charité, Prof. Dr. med. Adelheid Kuhlmey, according to a recent release from the pharmaceutical company.

Many people in Germany have insufficient knowledge about diseases. Image: Photographee.eu - fotolia

But a joint study by Charité and Pfizer has shown that many citizens have low health knowledge. According to the study, the knowledge about chronic diseases is considered to be "good" overall, but in every fourth it is clearly "expandable", reports Pfizer. "The results confirm our expectation that more needs to be done to inform the health of the population", Prof. Dr. med. Adelheid Kuhlmey quoted in the report.

Survey of more than 4,000 people
From November 2014 to September 2015, more than 4,100 people aged 35 years and over were included in the study as part of a "knowledge test" on general health issues and chronic diseases, such as: Cardiovascular disease, cancer and depression interviewed. The comparison of provinces showed that people in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern are best informed with 70% correctly answered statements. By contrast, Brandenburg and Bremen (with 63 percent each) and Saarlanders (62 percent) were less well-informed.

While there were no major differences between the genders, the age groups showed that the younger ones tend to be better informed about health issues. Here the age group of 35- to 44-year-olds reached e.g. in cardiovascular diseases the highest level of knowledge with 71 percent correctly answered statements.

"Now it is important to consolidate and further promote the knowledge of the age groups so that in the future older generations will have a higher level of knowledge in the field of health", says Prof. Dr. med. Adelheid Kuhlmey continues. (No)