Health literacy

Taking Good Health Literally

Poor health literacy puts some seniors at the back of the class when its come to their health. Elderly individuals with low health literacy—understanding basic information and making appropriate health care decisions—have more physical and mental health problems than their more health-literate counterparts, according to an article published in the September 26 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. Led by Michael Wolf, PhD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine at the Feinberg School, the study found that even though older adults with lower health literacy were more likely to have never smoked and abstained from alcohol than those with adequate health literacy, they were in worse emotional and physical condition. Those who don’t make top grades in health literacy often have problems with basic reading skills, understanding numerical information such as that found on prescription bottles, and interpreting document information such as appointment slips.

Dr. Wolf and colleagues from Northwestern and Emory University used data from a survey of more than 2,900 Medicare participants, average age 71. Conducting interviews to determine physical and mental health status, the researchers found that approximately one-third of those surveyed had marginal (11 percent) or inadequate (22 percent) health literacy. These individuals had significantly higher rates of chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus, heart failure, and arthritis.

"Although the causal pathways between low health literacy and disease-specific health outcomes remains unclear," stated the authors, "this study provides further evidence of the likelihood that inadequate health literacy detrimentally affects health."