Health literacy among different age groups in Germany: results of a cross-sectional survey

Abstract

BackgroundHealth literacy is of increasing importance in public health research. It is a necessary pre-condition for the involvement in decisions about health and health care and related to health outcomes. Knowledge about limited health literacy in different age groups is crucial to better target public health interventions for subgroups of the population. However, little is known about health literacy in Germany. The study therefore assesses the prevalence of limited health literacy and associated factors among different age groups.MethodsThe Health Literacy Survey Germany is a cross-sectional study with 2,000 participants aged 15 years or older in private households. Perceived health literacy was assessed via computer-assisted personal interviews using the HLS-EU-Q-47 questionnaire. Descriptive analyses, chi-square tests and odds ratios were performed stratified for different age groups.ResultsThe population affected by limited perceived health literacy increases by age. Of the respondents aged 15–29 years, 47.3 % had limited perceived health literacy and 47.2 % of those aged 30–45 years, whereas 55.2 % of the respondents aged 46–64 years and 66.4 % aged 65 years and older showed limited perceived health literacy. In all age groups, limited perceived health literacy was associated with limited functional health literacy, low social status, and a high frequency of doctor visits.ConclusionsThe results suggest a need to further investigate perceived health literacy in all phases of the life-course. Particular attention should be devoted to persons with lower social status, limited functional health literacy and/or a high number of doctor visits in all age groups.

International Perspective on Health Literacy and Health Equity: Factors That Influence the Former Soviet Union Immigrants

“…Germany performed in the middle of the other seven participating European countries [124]. People of older age, people with low socioeconomic status, and high frequency of physician visits had lower health literacy scores [126,127]. Immigrants in general, but especially immigrants less than 65 years of age, had limited health literacy [125,126].…”

Determinants and Consequences of Limited Health Literacy in Polish Society

“…It revealed that limited health literacy was associated with poor health status, having more than one long-term illness and the higher use of health care services involving six or more consultations with doctors in the last 12 months [4]. Other studies, in which national versions of the HL questionnaire developed within the HLS-EU project were used, confirmed that low HL may be associated with people's poor self-assessment of health status [12,20], the prevalence of long-term illnesses [12], the higher utilisation of health care resources [14,21], and a lower level of physical activity [22][23][24].Although the scope of information which arises from the HLS-EU-Q47 is extensive, it appears that the size of the tool may result in reduced compliance of respondents, especially if the questionnaire is used as a part of a survey which is also focused on other issues. Therefore, a shortened but also validated, the 16-item version has been used in many surveys (HLS-EU-Q16) [5,12,[25][26][27][28][29].…”

“…It revealed that limited health literacy was associated with poor health status, having more than one long-term illness and the higher use of health care services involving six or more consultations with doctors in the last 12 months [4]. Other studies, in which national versions of the HL questionnaire developed within the HLS-EU project were used, confirmed that low HL may be associated with people's poor self-assessment of health status [12,20], the prevalence of long-term illnesses [12], the higher utilisation of health care resources [14,21], and a lower level of physical activity [22][23][24].…”

Investigation of the Health Literacy Level of Women in Reproductive Age as a Public Health Problem in Zahedan

“…The current study findings showed that there was a significant relationship between HL and age (P < 0.001), and that the older a participant was, the higher HL she had. The results of the studies by Jovic-Vranes et al 18 , Berens et al 19 and Peyman et al 16 showed that with increasing the age, health literacy decreased. This difference could be due to the limited age range of the present study (15 to 45 years).…”