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BACKGROUND: Patients’ ability to manage medications is critical to chronic disease control. Also known as medication management capacity (MMC), it includes the ability to correctly identify medications and describe how they should be taken.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of low literacy, medication regimen complexity, and sociodemographic characteristics on MMC.

DESIGN: Cross-sectional analysis of enrollment data from participants in a randomized trial.

PARTICIPANTS: Patients with coronary heart disease in an inner-city clinic.

MEASUREMENTS: Medication management capacity was measured with the Drug Regimen Unassisted Grading Scale (DRUGS), which scores subjects’ ability to identify, open, describe the dose, and describe the timing of their medications. DRUGS overall and …