Fifth of Brits Go Untreated Due To Embarrassment Over Medication

Oct. 31, 2011 - PRLog -- New research from the UK’s leading discount website has found that half of Britons admit to leaving medical conditions untreated; of which, a fifth claim this is due to ‘embarrassment’ of the illness in question. According to the study, Haemorrhoids are the most common ailment left untreated.

As part of ongoing research into how Britons maintain a healthy lifestyle, the UK’s leading discount website, http://www.MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, has conducted a study of 1,201 consumers to investigate how Britons tackle medical ailments. Subsequently, the study found that almost a fifth, 19%, of Britons claim to have been ‘too embarrassed’ to buy certain forms of medication in the past.

The study, conducted by http://www.MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, initially asked the respondents if they had ever left an ailment untreated, to which more than half, 53%, answered ‘Yes’.  These respondents were then asked to state the reasons for not treating their condition, to which 19% of whom claimed that is was because they felt ‘too embarrassed’ to purchase the medication required.  

The 19% respondents who admitted to feeling too embarrassed to purchase certain types of medication were asked to choose which ailment they had left untreated from a list of possible conditions.  

According to the research by http://www.MyVoucherCodes.co.uk,  the most common condition left untreated due to ‘embarrassment’ was ‘Haemorrhoids’; with 37% of the respondents who admitted to being ‘too embarrassed’ to buy certain medication stating that this was the ailment in question.

Furthermore, 14% of those who felt embarrassed to buy medication stated that the yeast infection, ‘Thrush’, was the untreated medical problem in question; whilst almost a quarter, 23%, said it was a ‘rash’ on their body.

Of the 53% of respondents who admitted to leaving medical conditions untreated, 16% cited that the ‘cost of prescription’ was why they didn’t treat the condition. A further 28% said was due to being ‘unable’ to find the time to go to the doctors.

Mark Pearson, Chairman of http://www.MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, said the following about the findings:

“As a money saving website we were interested to discover the attitudes Britons have towards prescription prices, however, this study lead us to a much more shocking fact; and that is that so many people leave illnesses untreated because they are too embarrassed to buy the medication! I have to admit, this is quite shocking.”

He continued,

“I agree that ordering certain forms of medication is embarrassing and it may be something that people feel uncomfortable doing. However, having said this, people should put the embarrassment to one side and go to the pharmacist! I am sure that pharmacists sell people these treatments everyday and take no notice of who is buying what. We should all take our health seriously and get our medical conditions treated.”

ENDS

LINK: http://www.MyVoucherCodes.co.uk.  

For more information please contact Charlotte Horsfall of 10 Yetis Public Relations on charlotte@10yetis.co.uk or 01452348211.

Editor’s Notes

Mark Pearson, Chairman of MyVoucherCodes.co.uk is a regular media contributor regarding online shopping and the credit crunch. At 29, his personal worth is more than £30 million.

Mark was previously a trainee chef working for Gordon Ramsay at Claridges, London.

MyVoucherCodes has had sales exceeding £481m in the last year.

Consumer savings on online shopping via MyVoucherCodes.co.uk up from £28m in 2008 to £52m in 2009.