Abstract
BackgroundHealth literacy is of increasing importance in public health research. It is a necessary pre-condition for the involvement in decisions about health and health care and related to health outcomes. Knowledge about limited health literacy in different age groups is crucial to better target public health interventions for subgroups of the population. However, little is known about health literacy in Germany. The study therefore assesses the prevalence of limited health literacy and associated factors among different age groups.MethodsThe Health Literacy Survey Germany is a cross-sectional study with 2,000 participants aged 15 years or older in private households. Perceived health literacy was assessed via computer-assisted personal interviews using the HLS-EU-Q-47 questionnaire. Descriptive analyses, chi-square tests and odds ratios were performed stratified for different age groups.ResultsThe population affected by limited perceived health literacy increases by age. Of the respondents aged 15–29 years, 47.3 % had limited perceived health literacy and 47.2 % of those aged 30–45 years, whereas 55.2 % of the respondents aged 46–64 years and 66.4 % aged 65 years and older showed limited perceived health literacy. In all age groups, limited perceived health literacy was associated with limited functional health literacy, low social status, and a high frequency of doctor visits.ConclusionsThe results suggest a need to further investigate perceived health literacy in all phases of the life-course. Particular attention should be devoted to persons with lower social status, limited functional health literacy and/or a high number of doctor visits in all age groups.
Highlights
Health literacy is of increasing importance in public health research
Our study shows a higher proportion of limited perceived health literacy compared to European average [8] which might be explained by different demands and complexity of the health care systems
In these age-specific studies, special attention needs to be devoted to subgroups such as people with low social status, limited functional health literacy and/ or a high number of doctor visits
Summary
Health literacy is of increasing importance in public health research. It is a necessary pre-condition for the involvement in decisions about health and health care and related to health outcomes. Health literacy is the competence to access, understand, appraise, and apply health information in order to take decisions in everyday life concerning healthcare, disease prevention, and health promotion [1]. This definition goes beyond functional literacy [2]. Health literacy is associated with the effectiveness of the use of preventive and other health services and has consequences for the subjective health status and the mortality of a population [3,4,5,6] Socioeconomic factors such as a low educational. The decline in health literacy in older age groups is associated with decreasing cognitive functionality and potential health impairments [15, 16]
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