Relationship of preventive health practices and health literacy: a national study.
OBJECTIVE
To identify relationships between the health literacy and self-reported preventive health practices of US adults.


METHODS
Measured health literacy and preventive health practices for a nationally representative sample of adults (N = 18,100) and conducted probit regression analyses after controlling for age, gender, race/ethnicity, poverty level, insurance status, self-reported health status, and oral reading fluency.


RESULTS
Low literacy was associated with a decreased likelihood of using most preventive health measures under study for adults aged 65 and older, but not for adults of 2 younger age groups.


CONCLUSIONS
The relationship between health literacy and preventive health practices varied substantially by adult age group.
White
Sheida
S
National Assessment for Adult Literacy, National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, US Department of Education, Washington, DC 20006, USA. sheida.white@ed.gov
Chen
Jing
J
Atchison
Ruth
R
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D032882:Comprehension; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011314:Preventive Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012044:Regression Analysis; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States