TABLE 2.

Rationale for choice of cough/cold medication by health literacy level ^a

	n (%)	Health Literacy		p-value
		Low Literacy	Adequate Literacy
		n=235	n=62
		n (%)	n (%)
Rationale involving comparison of the two medications	48 (16.2)	23 (9.8)	25 (40.3)	<0.001
Concerned about overlap in active ingredientb	31 (10.4)	13 (5.5)	18 (29.0)	<0.001
Concerned about mixing brandsc	17 (5.7)	10 (4.3)	7 (11.3)	0.06
Rationale involving consideration of child’s symptoms	181 (60.9)	145 (61.7)	36 (58.1)	0.7
Wanted symptoms of child to match symptoms covered by medication	162 (54.5)	131 (55.7)	31 (50.0)	0.5
Wanted medication with a broad range of symptoms covered	23 (7.7)	17 (7.2)	6 (9.7)	0.6
Rationale not related to comparing medications or symptoms, or no rationale given	131 (44.1)	112 (47.7)	19 (30.6)	0.02
Brand recognition	51 (17.2)	42 (17.9)	9 (14.5)	0.7
Time of day of medicine	54 (18.2)	44 (18.7)	10 (16.1)	0.7
Strength of medicine	3 (1.0)	3 (1.3)	0 (0)	1.0
Concern about safety / side effects (unrelated to active ingredient)i	6 (2.0)	6 (2.6)	0 (0)	0.4
Liked the flavor of the medication	8 (2.7)	8 (3.4)	0 (0)	0.2
Child agek	2 (0.7)	2 (0.9)	0 (0)	1.0
Don’t know	13 (4.4)	13 (5.5)	0 (0)	0.08

^aTotal n may not add up to sample n as parents could cite more than 1 reason for choosing a cough and cold medication.

^bSpecifically described concern about potential of giving too much acetaminophen (eg. “the other two have acetaminophen,” “do not want to double dose on acetaminophen”).

^cNon-specific concern about mixing medication; did not specifically cite overlapping acetaminophen (eg. “can’t mix brands,” “stay with the same brand”).

^dNamed specific symptoms on medication label that were consistent with the child’s symptoms (eg. “because the child has cough and sore throat – matched the symptoms,” “because it treats what he has”).

^eMentioned desire to choose a medication which covered multiple symptoms (eg. “Multisymptom covers it all,” “because it is for everything,” “has a wider range of treatment for more symptoms”).

^fCited familiarity / brand recognition as one of primary reasons (eg. “I recognize the brand Tylenol,” “because I know the brand,” “I trust Tylenol, the brand”).

^gCited medication suitable due to time of day (eg. “because it’s for daytime”).

^hCited strength of medication as rationale (eg. “works faster,” “it is a little stronger”).

ⁱExpressed concern about side effects (eg. “it has less side effects,” “would not make him drowsy”).

^jCited flavor as one of their primary reasons for selecting the medication (eg “Easier to give – child likes grape flavor,” “kids like cherry”).

^kCited child age as part of rationale (eg. “more for kids,” “is for the child’s age”).