Lisa Shah|Patricia M. West|K. Bremmeyr|Ruth T. Savoy?Moore
Health Literacy Instrument in Family Medicine: The "Newest Vital Sign" Ease of Use and Correlates
health literacy defined ability obtain process understand basic information needed make appropriate health decisions half adults lack health literacy skills needed complex health care environment 2005 weiss et al introduced newest vital sign nvs instrument used quickly assess health literacy purpose study determine acceptability timeliness using nvs measure level health literacy various suburban urban rural primary care settings secondary purpose determine influence taking health class ones level health literacyin crosssectional design adults recruited 4 primary care settings student athletes recruited preparticipation sports physicals nvs administered health literacy rates compared known trends subset 50 patients timed test administration refusals logged throughout adults athletes analyzed separatelyone thousand fourteen patients including athletes agreed participate response rate 975 average time needed complete nvs 263 minutes adults tested 481 demonstrated adequate health literacy logistic regression analysis younger age formal education health class participation body mass index positive predictors adequate health literacy among adults interaction term used genderrace white women used comparator genderrace odds ratio negatively affected literacy white men 0497 95 ci 03280753 nonwhite women 0177 95 ci 01110282 nonwhite men 0210 95 ci 01100398 among participating middle highschool athletes 597 adequate health literacy logistic regression population body mass index positive predictor whereas genderrace negative predictorthe nvs revealed health literacy status less 3 minutes widely accepted provided results comparable extensive literacy tests particularly taking health education class associated higher levels health literacy among adults