Report: The general public lacks basic medical knowledge; Prefer to rely on experts

Relying on the expertise of professionals can be a good strategy but when it comes to you health it is definitely no okay to be wholly ignorant of the risk factors and symptoms of major medical conditions that can affect you. Unfortunately, that is exactly what the general public is.

According to a study published in the online open access journal BMC Medicine. Sadly the report noted that even those with university degrees, a medical background, or personal experience of an illness are only slightly better informed.

Lucas M. Bachmann from the University of Zurich, Switzerland and colleagues devised a scale to measure people's minimal medical knowledge (MMK) of heart attack, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and HIV/AIDS. This included questions such as: "How can one protect oneself from HIV infection"" and "What are the symptoms of a heart attack"" It was tested on 185 adults.

The average score was just 32%, and no one scored 100%. The fact that having a university degree, a medical background or personal experience of an illness only slightly improved individual scores is a particular cause for concern, the authors say, and may occur because people prefer to take health-related advice from trustworthy figures in positions of authority, rather than actively seek it themselves.

It goes without saying that it is important for people to know the symptoms and risk factors linked to serious clinical conditions. Early detection can positively influence treatment outcome. Furthermore early detection can cut related treatment costs and help people avoid risky behaviors.

The good news is that if you are a regular reader of LifeTwo you are probably well ahead of the mean when it comes to knowledge about the major medical conditions related to aging since we regularly feature articles about them.