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Only
about 1 in 10 Adult Americans is Health
Literate
Newswise — Just 12 percent of America’s 228 million adults have the
skills to manage their own health care
proficiently, according to the latest News
and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare
Research. These skills, known collectively
as health literacy, describe people's
person’s ability to obtain and use health
information to make appropriate health care
decisions. They include weighing the risks
and benefits of different treatments,
knowing how to calculate health insurance
costs, and being able to fill out complex
medical forms.
A person with poor health literacy may not get good results from their
health care and increase the risks of
medical errors.
A 2003 survey of health literacy skills classified adults into four
categories: proficient, intermediate, basic
and below basic. In addition to the 12
percent deemed proficient, the survey found
that
· 53 percent had intermediate skills, such as being able to read
instructions on a prescription label and
determine the right time to take medication.
· 22 percent had basic skills, such as being able to read a pamphlet and
understand two reasons why a disease test
might be appropriate despite a lack of
symptoms.
· 14 percent had below basic skills, meaning they could accomplish only
simple tasks such understanding a set of
short instructions or identifying what is
permissible to drink before a medical test.
Of these, 7 million were non-literate in
English.
This AHRQ News and Numbers summary is based on data from the 2007
National Healthcare Disparities Report,
which examines the disparities in Americans'
access to and quality of health care, with
breakdowns by race, ethnicity, income, and
education.
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