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Little is known about drug knowledge of patients, which is relevant for both the compliance and quality of pharmacotherapy. Drug knowledge was quantified in 160 patients in the outpatient clinics of the departments of Internal and Geriatric Medicine. Medication knowledge was generally poor, especially among older patients. Better knowledge was associated with the use of fewer drugs. Caregivers of dementia patients performed as well as younger patients, indicating that older people can perform well, if well-instructed. List of frequently used abbreviations GO Geriatric outpatients without dementia caregivers of GO patients Main caregivers of geriatric outpatients with dementia older IM Older (≥65 years) internal medicine outpatients younger IM Younger (18-65 years) internal medicine outpatient