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People are increasingly being given responsibility for their health and,
consequently, health literacy (HL) is becoming a topic of growing interest. Overseas
studies have demonstrated an association between low functional health literacy and
poor health-related outcomes, such as increased hospital admissions and re-
hospitalisations, lower participation in preventive measures, poorer self-
management of chronic conditions, poorer disease outcomes, lower functional status
and increased mortality. We know that limited literacy
skills are often associated
with poor understanding and management of health conditions, underuse of
preventive health services, higher rates of hospital admissions for preventable
conditions and poor overall health status [6]. Populations
with low health literacy
are more likely to have difficulties in understanding different types of health
information, both in assessing its reliability and source, difficulties in understanding
medical language and professional terms, and difficulties in acquiring skills to
control their health.
Limited literacy skills are known to be
often associated with poor
understanding and management of health conditions, underutilization of preventive
health services, higher rates of hospitalizations for preventable conditions and poor
overall health. Evidence of a social gradient in health literacy has been found in all
published national population-based surveys. Health literacy is an intermediate
determinant of health, but not a panacea for addressing health inequalities caused by
the misallocation of opportunities and resources.
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