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How readable are pharmaceutical leaflets in Türkiye?
Funda Örge Yaşar1, Mehtap Özden1, Serkan Özden2
1Faculty of Education, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Çanakkale, Türkiye.
Medicine
|September 17, 2025
Summary
Most pharmaceutical leaflets in Türkiye are difficult to read, hindering access to medication information for people with low health literacy. Simplifying language in patient information materials is crucial for safe medication use and public health.
Area of Science:
- Pharmaceutical Sciences
- Health Communication
- Public Health
Background:
- Patient information leaflets (PILs) are crucial for medication adherence and safety.
- Assessing the readability of PILs is essential for ensuring effective health communication.
- Low health literacy is a significant barrier to understanding medical information.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the readability of pharmaceutical leaflets available in Türkiye.
- To identify specific linguistic features affecting leaflet comprehension.
- To provide recommendations for improving the clarity of patient medication information.
Main Methods:
- Random selection of 26 pharmaceutical leaflets from the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency website.
- Analysis of leaflet readability using the Ateşman Readability Formula.
- Assessment of specific sections including indications, usage, side effects, and storage.
Main Results:
- The majority of analyzed pharmaceutical leaflets were found to be "difficult" or "very difficult" to read.
- Long sentence structures and multisyllabic words were identified as key factors negatively impacting readability.
- Difficult readability poses a risk for individuals with low health literacy, potentially leading to improper medication use.
Conclusions:
- There is a significant need to revise and simplify the language used in pharmaceutical leaflets in Türkiye.
- Clear and understandable patient information materials are vital for improving medication safety and public health outcomes.
- Recommendations are provided for pharmaceutical manufacturers and health communication specialists to enhance PIL clarity.
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