Health Literacy Statistics
Selected study results
For more information
Over 300 studies indicate that most health information is written at levels the average adult can’t understand. This includes medical brochures, warning signs, food and product information, and health information on the Internet.
Selected study results
In a 1997 study of Medicare enrollees, 100% of enrollees with inadequate literacy levels did not understand the rights and responsibilities section of a Medicaid application, compared to 17.3% of those with adequate health literacy.
The Children’s Defense Fund says that 42% of children of immigrants were uninsured in 2002.
One-fifth of 625 immigrant families surveyed by the Children’s Defense Fund-New York in 2003 said that they believed that signing up for public health insurance would lead to problems with immigration authorities, and another fifth were worried that it might cause such problems.
A study of cardiovascular nutrition education by TenHave and others found that the proportion of participants reporting a history of heart disease or diabetes was inversely related to literacy scores—the lower the literacy level, the higher the incidence of these diseases.
A study of patients at two public hospitals in Atlanta published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1995 showed that:
- 26% could not understand when their next appointment was scheduled
- 42% did not comprehend instructions to “take medication on an empty stomach”
- 49% could not determine if they were eligible for free care by reading hospital financial aid forms
- 60% could not understand a standard consent form
The Journal of the American Medical Association reported in 1999 that:
- 46% of American adults are functionally illiterate in dealing with the health care system
- Functional health literacy is worse among the elderly and patients who report overall poor health. Thus, the population most in need of health care is least able to read and understand information needed to function as a patient.
According to the National Academy on an Aging Society, the healthcare cost of low literacy skills in the form of longer hospital stays, more emergency room visits, increased doctor visits, and increased medication is estimated at $73 billion annually.
In New York City, where 47% of adults speak a language other than English at home, and only 14% of entering high school students graduate with an academic diploma four years later, the health literacy crisis is even more dire.
For more information
Institute of Medicine’s report Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion
PowerPoint presentation on health literacy by Dr. David W. Baker, MD, MPH, Chief of General Internal Medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine