title: Measuring adult literacy in health care: performance of the newest vital sign.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare performance of the newest vital sign (NVS) with existing literacy measures.
  
  
  METHODS
  We administered the NVS and REALM to 129 patients, and NVS and S-TOFHLA to 119 patients all in public clinics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The NVS demonstrated high sensitivity for detecting limited literacy and moderate specificity (area under the receiver operating characteristic [AUROC] curve 0.71-0.73). The NVS was less effective than the S-TOFHLA for predicting health outcomes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The NVS is able to identify patients with limited literacy skills, but may misclassify those with adequate literacy according to the REALM and S-TOFHLA. NVS scores were not associated with health outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Healthcare Studies, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL 60611, USA. c-osborn@northwestern.edu
authors.forename: Chandra Y
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Osborn
authors.forename: Barry D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Weiss
authors.forename: Terry C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Skripkauskas
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rodrigue
authors.forename: Pat F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Bass
authors.forename: Michael S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Wolf
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006296:Health Services; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires