Health Literacy in Advanced Age

Abstract

Health literacy is a frequently discussed concept. Previous studies indicate that older people more often experience difficulties in dealing with health-relevant information compared to the general population. However, existing studies consider older people as a homogeneous group. Therefore, there is a research gap on assessment of health literacy among different subpopulations of older adults. The aim of the study is to make a detailed assessment of health literacy in old age. For this purpose, we conducted an age-specific analysis of HLS-GER study data using descriptive analytic procedures. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to assess the association between mean health literacy scores and age. A large proportion of the older population from the HLS-GER sample of 475 persons aged 65 and older has limited health literacy. Perceived difficulties arise in particular in the domains health care as well as in finding and assessing health information. The results also show statistically significant differences between the age groups. Especially those aged 76 and above have a significantly lower level of health literacy in all domains and dimensions than younger older people. These results underline the need for more age-differentiated health literacy research. Additionally, more attention needs to be given to age differentiation in the development of interventions as well.