Relationship between literacy skills and self-reported health in the Nordic countries

Abstract

Aims: This study investigated the association between literacy skills and self-reported health among Danish (n = 7284), Finnish (n = 5454), Norwegian (n = 4942) and Swedish (n = 4555) participants aged 16–65 years. Methods: Logistic regression models were used to assess the association between literacy skills and self-reported health after adjusting for sex, age and educational level. Results: Nordic participants aged 16–65 years with literacy skills at the lowest level reported sub-optimal health more often (28–37%) than those with literacy skills at the highest level (7–9%). After adjusting for sex, age and educational level, the likelihood of reporting sub-optimal health was 1.99–3.24 times as high for those with literacy skills at the lowest level as for those with literacy skills at the highest level. Conclusions: These results suggest that poor literacy skills increase the likelihood of experiencing poor health in the Nordic countries, even after controlling for educational level.

Health Literacy is Associated with Health Behaviors in Students from Vocational Education and Training Schools: A Danish Population-Based Survey

“…Many studies confirm the association between self-reported health status and educational attainment [9,10,47] but, to the best of our knowledge, no study report on students at different educational levels and educational program in VET education. In accordance with our findings (Table 3), other studies have found positive associations between health literacy and self-reported health status in general populations, including younger adults [47,49,50], although the directionality of this association is still unsupported.…”

Assessing health science students' health literacy and its association with health behaviours

“…Health literacy might represent a determinant of health behaviours (Liu, Liu, Li, & Chen, 2015; Osborn, Paasche‐Orlow, Bailey, & Wolf, 2011). Previous research has reported relationships between health literacy and lifestyle profiles (Aaby, Friis, Christensen, Rowlands, & Maindal, 2017; Adams et al., 2013; Friis, Lasgaard, Rowlands, Osborne, & Maindal, 2016; Friis, Vind, Simmons, & Maindal, 2016; Husson, Mols, Fransen, Van De Poll‐Franse, & Ezendam, 2015; Lundetræ & Gabrielsen, 2016; MacAbasco‐O'Connell et al., 2011; Osborn et al., 2011; Park et al., 2017). Low levels of health literacy have been associated with more adverse health behaviours such as smoking, physical inactivity and poor diet and poor subjective health but inconclusive results have been reported.…”

Health literacy is associated with health behaviour and self-reported health: A large population-based study in individuals with cardiovascular disease

“… 12 At any rate, low health literacy has been related to more adverse health behaviours 13 – 15 and poor subjective health. 5 , 13 – 18 However, all these studies were either small and/or investigated health literacy as basic skills of reading and understanding. No more comprehensive studies have explored these associations.…”