title: [Health literacy of adults in Germany: Findings from the German Health Update (GEDA) study].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In today's information society, health literacy (HL) is considered important for health maintenance and disease management. In this context, dealing with health information is fundamental and requires different cognitive and social skills.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to investigate the distribution of HL levels in the adult population of Germany, and to identify associations with health behaviours and health status.
  
  
  METHODS
  The analyses were based on data from the German Health Update (GEDA) study, a cross-sectional survey of the German-speaking adult population of Germany, which was conducted from October 2013 to June 2014. Health literacy was assessed with the short form of the European Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLS EU-Q16), along with questions about socio-demographics, health behaviours, and health status. The HLS-EU-Q16 index could be calculated for 4845 respondents.
  
  
  RESULTS
  According to the criteria of the HLS-EU-Q16, more than half of the adults had "adequate" HL (55.8 %). Every third person (31.9 %) had "problematic" and almost every eighth person (12.3 %) had "inadequate" HL. We found significant differences in HL by educational level, but no differences in HL by sex and age group. Certain health behaviours were positively associated with health literacy. A low HL level was associated with poorer physical and mental health.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results point to a need for action to improve HL in the adult population. The strengthening of health literacy should not solely aim at the promotion of individual skills, but also give high priority to the development of health-literate settings.
authors.affiliation: Abteilung für Epidemiologie und Gesundheitsmonitoring, Robert Koch-Institut, General-Pape-Str. 62-66, 12101, Berlin, Deutschland, JordanS@rki.de.
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jordan
authors.forename: Jens
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hoebel
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001294:Attitude to Health; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D015438:Health Behavior; D057220:Health Literacy / Q000145:classification / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017678:Sex Distribution; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult