Health literacy, socioeconomic status and self-rated health in Japan

Abstract

SUMMARYHealth literacy (HL) is a key determinant of health in a contemporary society characterized by abundant information. Previous studies have suggested that basic or functional HL is positively associated with health, whereas evidences on the association between health and communicative/critical HL are scarce. Furthermore, confounding by socioeconomic status on HL-health association has been poorly tested. Using cross-sectional data from a nationally representative community-based survey in Japan, we investigated whether communicative/critical HL is associated with self-rated health independent of socioeconomic status. A total of 1237 subjects participated in this study; the response rate was 62%. To measure communicative/critical HL, we used three questions assessing the respondents' ability to select, to communicate to others and to evaluate specific healthrelated information. Potential confounders included demographic factors, household income, employment status, and educational attainment. A multivariate model revealed that good self-reported health was significantly associated with younger age [odds ratio (OR), 0.99; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.97-0.99], employment (OR, 2.89; 95% CI, 1.06-7.88) and higher communicative/critical HL scores (OR 2.75; 95%CI,. Respondents with lower education were likely to have poorer communicative/critical HL. These results imply that to close the health gap, policy interventions should focus on the promotion of HL among deprived sociodemographic groups.

Health literacy and health among the elderly: status and challenges in the context of the Polish population aging process

“…To some extent this hypothesis can be supported by, the found in the Polish study, the phenomenon of increasing with age the impact of self -assessed social position on health self -assessment. The relationship between social position and health literacy were confirmed by other authors (van der Heide et al 2013;Tiller et al 2015;Furuya et al 2015).…”

Health Literacy in Adolescents With Sickle Cell Disease

“…In addition, less than average reading skill leads to two and half times the risk of teen pregnancy as compared to risk of pregnancy in individuals with average reading and above average reading skill (Bennett et al, 2013). The adult health literacy literature is also consistent, in that higher grade levels are associated with higher health literacy levels (Coffman et al, 2012;Furuya et al, 2013;Sun et al, 2013;Wu et al, 2012).…”

“…Education level has a positive influence on health literacy levels and health behavior regarding infectious diseases in several studies (Sun et al, 2013;Wu et al, 2012). In addition, a Japanese community-based study with 1237 adult participants shows that respondents with lower education level had lower health literacy scores and lower communication scores (Furuya, Kondo, Yamagata, & Hashimoto, 2013). Furthermore, years of education are significantly associated with greater diabetes knowledge in adult Latinos with diabetes risk factors (Coffman, Norton, & Beene, 2012).…”

Relation between communicative and critical health literacy and physical activity in Japanese adults: a cross-sectional study

“…A few studies have indicated that high communicative and high critical HL contribute to self-management for chronic diseases more effectively than functional HL [9][10][11] . Further, in Japan, high levels of these types of HL were significantly related to better self-rated health among Japanese adults 12) .…”