Table 2.
Health Literacy Scores at Baseline and Change in Scores from Baseline at Each Follow-up, Overall, and by Age Group
| Health literacy assessment (range) | Baseline (n = 656) | Change at first follow-up§ (n = 615) | Change at second follow-up|| (n = 492) | Change at final follow-up¶ (n = 383) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TOFHLA* (0–100) | 77.7 (15.3) | − 0.4 (8.2) | − 0.9 (9.5)** | − 1.8 (8.7) ‡‡ |
| 55–59 | 78.5 (15.1) | 0.1 (8.2) | − 0.5 (8.7) | − 2.1 (8.5) †† |
| 60–64 | 78.0 (15.4) | 0.3 (8.2) | − 0.2 (8.6) | − 1.8 (7.8)** |
| 65–74 | 76.6 (15.5) | − 1.4 (8.2)** | − 1.8 (11.0)** | − 1.7 (9.6)** |
| p value# | 0.40 | 0.07 | 0.31 | 0.93 |
| NVS† (0–6) | 3.2 (2.1) | − 0.1 (1.4) | − 0.1 (1.6) | − 0.2 (1.4)** |
| 55–59 | 3.3 (2.2) | − 0.1 (1.4) | − 0.1 (1.4) | 0.1 (1.3) |
| 60–64 | 3.3 (2.1) | − 0.1 (1.4) | − 0.1 (1.6) | − 0.2 (1.5) |
| 65–74 | 2.9 (1.9) | − 0.1 (1.4) | − 0.05 (1.6) | − 0.4 (1.6) †† |
| p value# | 0.12 | 0.98 | 0.97 | 0.04 |
| REALM‡ (0–66) | 59.9 (11.0) | 0.2 (3.3) | 0.3 (2.5) †† | 0.1 (2.1) |
| 55–59 | 59.4 (12.2) | 0.5 (4.0) | − 0.1 (2.4) | − 0.1 (1.9) |
| 60–64 | 60.4 (10.2) | − 0.1 (1.9) | 0.5 (2.0) †† | 0.01 (2.1) |
| 65–74 | 60.0 (10.5) | 0.2 (3.5) | 0.6 (3.0)** | 0.4 (2.2)** |
| p value# | 0.63 | 0.26 | 0.05 | 0.08 |
*TOFHLA, Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults
†NVS, Newest Vital Sign
‡REALM, Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine
Values represent mean (SD)
§Average time 3.2 (0.5) years
||Average time 6.0 (0.6) years
¶Average time 8.6 (0.5) years
#p value represents comparisons of scores by age group using ANOVA
Paired t tests were used to assess change in performance between baseline and each follow-up interview overall and within age groups
**p < 0.05
††p < 0.01
‡‡p < 0.001