Correlates of health literacy in patients with chronic heart failure.
OBJECTIVE
Many older adults have inadequate health-related literacy, which is associated with poor health outcomes. Thus, it is important to identify determinants of health literacy. We investigated relationships between health literacy and general cognitive and sensory abilities, as well as education, health, and demographic variables, in a community sample of middle-aged and older adults.


METHODS
Participants were 314 community-dwelling adults (67% female, 48% African American) diagnosed with chronic heart failure recruited for a pharmacist-based intervention study to improve adherence to chronic heart failure medications. We adminstered demographic, health, education, cognitive (e.g., processing speed, working memory), and sensory measures, and the Short Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (STOFHLA), as part of the baseline condition of this study.


RESULTS
STOFHLA scores were lower for participants who were older, less educated, male, African American, had more comorbidities, or scored lower on all cognitive ability measures. Hierarchical linear regression analyses showed that education and cognitive ability were independently associated with the STOFHLA measure and explained age differences in health literacy.


CONCLUSIONS
The association of cognitive abilities and literacy has important implications for health literacy models and for interventions to reduce the impact of low health literacy on health outcomes. For example, medication instructions should be designed to reduce comprehension demands on general cognitive abilities as well as literacy skills.
Morrow
Dan
D
Beckman Institute of Advanced Science & Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA. dgm@uiuc.edu
Clark
Dan
D
Tu
Wanzhu
W
Wu
Jingwei
J
Weiner
Michael
M
Steinley
Douglas
D
Murray
Michael D
MD
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003071:Cognition; D003142:Communication; D032882:Comprehension; D004521:Educational Measurement; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010349:Patient Compliance; D011932:Reading; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States