Table 1.

Examples of medical statements requiring health numeracy

Statements requiring basic numeracy skills

Take 1 pill 4 times a day

Follow-up with your physician on Tuesday at 3 PM

Statements requiring computational numeracy skills

For a 2,600 calorie food plan, you need to eat 9 ounces of grains

Your co-pay for an office visit is $25; your co-pay for an emergency department visit is $50

Statements requiring analytical numeracy skills

Take acetaminophen for a temperature greater than 100.4 F

Your cholesterol concentration is 270 mg/dL (reference range <240)

Statement requiring statistical numeracy skills

Those exposed have a 10% chance that they will develop the condition