title: Health Literacy in the German Population.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Persons with low health literacy have difficulty dealing with the health care system and understanding health-related information. Studies from multiple countries have shown that low health literacy negatively affects health, health-related and illness-related behavior, and the utilization of health care resources. The data available till now on health literacy in Germany have been sparse. The goal of this study is to acquire representative data on the health literacy of the German population.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a cross-sectional study, we collected data from a representative group of 2000 persons over age 15 in Germany by means of computer-assisted personal interviews (CAPI) that were based on the long version of the questionnaire used in the European Health Literacy Survey (HLS-EU-Q47). Sociodemographic data were also collected.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The respondents were a representative sample of the German population. 54.3% of them were found to have limited health literacy. Multiple logistic regression revealed associations of limited health literacy with advanced age (odds ratio [OR] 1.83, 95% confidence interval [CI] [1.36; 2.48]), an immigrant background (OR 1.87 [1.27; 2.75]), low self-assessed social status (OR 5.25 [3.57; 7.72]), and low functional literacy (OR 1.94 [1.49; 2.52]).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The low health literacy of many Germans can impair communication between doctors and patients and exacerbate existing problems in health policy. In the future, greater effort will have to be made to foster health literacy, make health-related information for patients easier to understand, and intensify research in the field of health literacy.
authors.affiliation: Working Group for Health Services Research and Nursing Science, School of Public Health, Bielefeld University.
authors.forename: Doris
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schaeffer
authors.forename: Eva-Maria
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Berens
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vogt
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D057220:Health Literacy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult