Evidence map›Paper›PMID 16881947›Full record

ArticleJournal of general internal medicine2006

Impact of health literacy on socioeconomic and racial differences in health in an elderly population.

David H Howard, Tetine Sentell, Julie A Gazmararian

Abstract readComparative Study
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of general internal medicine, 2006. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 118 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
118citing papers in PubMed, 6 pooled it
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

118 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

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58 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

David H HowardDepartment of Health Policy and Management, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA. david.howard@emory.edu
Tetine Sentell
Julie A Gazmararian

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundDifferences in health literacy levels by race and education are widely hypothesized to contribute to health disparities, but there is little direct evidence.

objectiveTo examine the extent to which low health literacy exacerbates differences between racial and socioeconomic groups in terms of health status and receipt of vaccinations.

designRetrospective cohort study. PARTICIPANTS (OR PATIENTS OR SUBJECTS): Three thousand two hundred and sixty noninstitutionalized elderly persons enrolling in a Medicare managed care plan in 1997 in Cleveland, OH; Houston, TX; South Florida; and Tampa, FL. MEASUREMENTS: Dependent variables were physical health SF-12 score, mental health SF-12 score, self-reported health status, receipt of influenza vaccine, and receipt of pneumococcal vaccine. Independent variables included health literacy, educational attainment, race, income, age, sex, chronic health conditions, and smoking status.

resultsAfter adjusting for demographic and health-related variables, individuals without a high school education had worse physical and mental health and worse self-reported health status than those with a high school degree. Accounting for health literacy reduced these differences by 22% to 41%. Black individuals had worse self-reported health status and lower influenza and pneumococcal vaccination rates. Accounting for health literacy reduced the observed difference in self-reported health by 25% but did not affect differences in vaccination rates.

conclusionsWe found that health literacy explained a small to moderate fraction of the differences in health status and, to a lesser degree, receipt of vaccinations that would normally be attributed to educational attainment and/or race if literacy was not considered.

Indexed as

Black PeopleHealth Knowledge, Attitudes, PracticeHealth StatusWhite PeopleAgedAged, 80 and overCohort StudiesEducational StatusFemaleHumansMaleRetrospective StudiesSocioeconomic Factors

Identifiers

PMID16881947
PMCPMC1831584

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.