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Low health literacy is associated with poorer medication adherence, greater use of emergency services, more-frequent hospitalization, and, among elders and patients with heart failure, higher mortality (e.g., JW Gen Med Jun 9 2011). Investigators analyzed the association between functional health literacy — being able to apply reading skills and basic knowledge in a health context — and all-cause mortality among 7857 people (age ≥52) from a random sample of households in England. Participants were administered a four-item test of their comprehension of written instructions for taking aspirin.
Health literacy was determined to be high (i.e., no test errors) in 67% of the cohort, medium (1 error) in 20%, and low (>1 error) in 13%. During a mea…