ArticleBMC public health2016
Associations between health literacy and preventive health behaviors among older adults: findings from the health and retirement study.
Article in BMC public health, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 79 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
79 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 192 citations in OpenAlex.
- Interventions to promote health literacy among working-age populations experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage: systematic review.Frontiers in public health · 2024Pooled it
- Measuring health literacy: A systematic review and bibliometric analysis of instruments from 1993 to 2021.PloS one · 2022Pooled it
- Health Literacy among Medically Underserved: The Role of Demographic Factors, Social Influence, and Religious Beliefs.Journal of health communication · 2017Trial
- Health Literacy and Chronic Disease Self-Efficacy Among Older Adults with Multimorbidity: Evidence from Low-Resource Context.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Living labs as catalysts for integrated primary care: insights from a comprehensive community survey and co-creative design of community-based prevention and primary care.BMC primary care · 2026Article
- Motivating factors and possible barriers to participation in digital prevention courses of two statutory health insurance funds in Germany: a qualitative interview study.BMC public health · 2026Article
- The association between health literacy and out-of-pocket health expenditure: exploring heterogeneity by chronic disease in Zhejiang, China.International journal for equity in health · 2026Article
- Organisational health literacy in healthcare in Europe: a content analysis to explore stakeholders perspectives for supporting the adoption of effective strategies and interventions.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2026Article
- Social Marketing for Health Equity: Promoting Preventive Health Behavior Among Women in Rural Communities.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- Co-Creation of Interventions to Promote Critical Health Literacy in the Community: Study Protocol.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2026Article
- Associations Between Health Literacy, Environmental Factors, and Fall Prevention Behaviors Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults in Northern Thailand: A Cross-Sectional Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- Exploring health literacy and demographic determinants among village health volunteers in the post-COVID-19 era: a web-based cross-sectional study.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Associations of family health and perceived social support with health literacy among middle-aged and older adults with chronic diseases: a mediation and network analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Strengthening the organizational health literacy capacity of community-based organizations to support COVID-19 precautionary behaviors in marginalized communities.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Strengthening population and organizational health literacy to reduce social inequalities within the JA PreventNCD.Scandinavian journal of public health · 2025Article
- Awareness of gestational diabetes mellitus among pregnant women in the Mopani district of Limpopo Province in South Africa: a quantitative study.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Barriers to the Development of Health Literacy in Iran's Health System: A Qualitative Study.Health literacy research and practice · 2025Article
- Examination of Social Participation in Older Adults Undergoing Frailty Health Checkups Using Deep Learning Models.Geriatrics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Health literacy model integrating health education, health behaviors, self-rated health, and socioeconomic status in the Chinese population.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Preventive Health Behavior and Readiness for Self-Management in a Multilingual Adult Population: A Representative Study from Northern Italy.Nursing reports (Pavia, Italy) · 2025Article
19 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundWhile the association between inadequate health literacy and adverse health outcomes has been well documented, less is known about the impact of health literacy on health perceptions, such as perceptions of control over health, and preventive health behaviors.
methodsWe identified a subsample of participants (N = 707) from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a nationally representative sample of older adults, who participated in health literacy testing. Self-reported health literacy was measured with a literacy screening question, and objective health literacy with a summed score of items from the Test of Functional Health Literacy. We compared answers on these items to those related to participation in health behaviors such as cancer screening, exercise, and tobacco use, as well as self-referencing health beliefs.
resultsIn logistic regression models adjusted for gender, education, race, and age, participants with adequate self-reported health literacy (compared to poorer levels of health literacy) had greater odds of participation in mammography within the last 2 years (Odds ratio [OR] = 2.215, p = 0.01) and participation in moderate exercise two or more times per week (OR = 1.512, p = 0.03). Participants with adequate objective health literacy had reduced odds of participation in monthly breast self-exams (OR = 0.369, p = 0.004) and reduced odds of current tobacco use (OR = 0.456, p = 0.03). In adjusted linear regression analyses, self-reported health literacy made a small but significant contribution to explaining perceived control of health (β 0.151, p = <0.001) and perceived social standing (β 0.112, p = 0.002).
conclusionIn a subsample of older adult participants of the HRS, measures of health literacy were positively related to several health promoting behaviors and health-related beliefs and non-use of breast self-exams, a screening behavior of questionable benefit. These relationships varied however, between self-reported and objectively-measured health literacy. Further investigation into the specific mechanisms that lead higher literacy people to pursue health promoting actions appears clearly warranted.
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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.