Improving literacy as a means to reducing health disparities

Abstract

Racial and socioeconomic disparities in morbidity and mortality have been apparent virtually as long as health statistics have been collected. In the United States, African Americans in particular fare worse than the majority population on nearly all measures of health, including infant mortality; life expectancy; cancer, heart disease, stroke, and trauma incidence and mortality; and self-rated health status.1 Individuals with low levels of educational attainment and income also tend to experience higher rates of illness and death, independent of race.2–4 Over the past several decades, though the U.S. population as a whole has enjoyed substantial declines in morbidity and mortality—largely due to better living conditions, public health measures, and advances in medical care—racial and socioeconomic disparities have persisted or even widened.1,5