Why incomprehensible medical test results worry patients

Medical reports worldwide are not written with patients in mind, which increases their overall level of worry as they find test results hard to understand, according to researchers.

For example, a standard pathology report is written by a pathologist for a clinical specialist like a surgeon or a cancer doctor or for other pathologists to read, said Cathryn Lapedis, of the Department of Pathology at University of Michigan Health in the US.

In a study published in the journal JAMA, Lapedis and her colleagues tested whether people could understand standard pathology reports and whether a patient-centred report might improve patient understanding.