ReviewArchives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique2021
Association between health literacy and mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Review in Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 58 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
58 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 100 citations in OpenAlex.
- Identifying Strengths and Weaknesses in Health Literacy among Medical Students: A Systematic Review.BMC medical education · 2025Pooled it
- Health literacy research on the island of Ireland: a systematic review.Health promotion international · 2025Pooled it
- A systematic review and narrative synthesis of health literacy interventions among Spanish speaking populations in the United States.BMC public health · 2024Pooled it
- Prevalence of color vision deficiency in Africa: Systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2024Pooled it
- Exploring the determinants of health literacy and its effects on health-related outcomes in family caregivers of patients with cancer.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2025Trial
- Comparative Analysis of Readability Levels of Hand Surgery Patient Information on the ASSH Website and Artificial Intelligence.Hand (New York, N.Y.) · 2026Article
- Patient Expectations, Satisfaction and Perceptions of Specialization in Family Medicine: A Cross-Sectional Study from a Health Literacy Perspective in Türkiye.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Associations of eHealth Literacy with Diabetes Self-Efficacy and Glycemic Parameters in Individuals with Type 2 Diabetes and Prediabetes: A Cross-Sectional Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Caregiver Health Literacy and Healthcare Utilization Behaviors: A Prospective Study Comparing Caregivers of Orthopaedic Patients With Chronic Versus Acute Conditions.Journal of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America · 2026Article
- School principals' COVID-19 health literacy and its association with mental health: international findings from 11 countries in Europe and Asia.Health promotion international · 2026Article
- Association Between Health Literacy and One-Year Incidence of Pre-Frailty Among Older Adults Undergoing Frailty Health Checkups.Geriatrics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Identifying patient and provider determinants of primary care experiences and outcomes for persons with chronic conditions: a multilevel analysis of a nation-wide survey in Norway.Family practice · 2026Article
- Effects of a Community-Based Multi-Component Intervention on Subjective Well-Being in Older Adults: The Chofu-Digital-Choju Project in Japan.Geriatrics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Constructing Menopause on Sweden's Official Healthcare Platform: A Critical Discourse Analysis.Scandinavian journal of caring sciences · 2026Article
- Bridging the Gap: A Pilot Study Using Artificial Intelligence to Make Plastic Surgery Research Accessible.Plastic and reconstructive surgery. Global open · 2026Article
- The Relationship Between Health Literacy and Adherence to Physical Activity Guidelines in Adults: A Scoping Review.American journal of health promotion : AJHP · 2026Review
- Structural Validation and Measurement Invariance of the HLS-Q12 Health Literacy Instrument in Finnish Adults: Comparing Traditional and Alignment Methods.International journal of public health · 2026Article
- Design of a study protocol for a cross-sectional investigation into health literacy levels among elderly individuals in China.BMJ open · 2025Article
- Understanding barriers to type 2 diabetes self-management in excessive weight adults: A qualitative study of patient experiences.Journal of diabetes and metabolic disorders · 2025Article
- Measuring individual and community capacity factors in people with multimorbidity and exploring associations with health outcomes.BMC medicine · 2025Article
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
backgroundTo identify the relationship between health literacy (HL) and mortality based on a systematic review and meta-analysis.
methodsLiterature published from database inception until July 2020 was searched using the PubMed and Web of Science databases, using relevant keywords and clear inclusion and exclusion criteria. The search was limited to English language articles. Two reviewers independently selected studies and extracted data. Pooled correlation coefficients and their 95% confidence intervals (CI) between HL and mortality were estimated using Stata 15.0 software. Potential sources of heterogeneity were explored using subgroup analysis, sensitivity analysis, and meta-regression. Quality of the original studies that were included in the meta-analysis was evaluated using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. A funnel plot and Egger's test were used to determine whether significant publication bias was present.
resultsOverall, 19 articles were included, reporting on a total of 41,149 subjects. Eleven were prospective cohort studies, and all articles were considered "good" quality. The most used screening instruments were the short Test of Functional Health Literacy (S-TOFHLA) in Adults and the Brief Health Literacy Screen (BHLS). Among 39,423 subjects (two articles did not report the number of patients with low HL), approximately 9202 (23%) had inadequate or marginal HL. The correlation coefficient between HL and mortality was 1.25 (95%CI = 0.25-0.44).
conclusionLower HL was associated with an increased risk of death. This finding should be considered carefully and confirmed by further research.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.