Laura M. Curtis|Michael S. Wolf|Kevin B. Weiss|Leslie C. Grammer
The Impact of Health Literacy and Socioeconomic Status on Asthma Disparities
Northwestern University|Northwestern University|Northwestern University|Northwestern University
objective racialethnic disparities well documented asthma socioeconomic status ses repeatedly implicated root cause role limited health literacy extensively studied purpose study examine independent contributions ses health literacy explaining asthma disparities methods cohort study conducted chicagobased sample 353 adults aged 1840 years persistent asthma 2004 2007 health literacy ses asthma outcomes including disease control quality life emergency department visits hospitalizations assessed person baseline asthma outcomes measured every 3 months 2 years phone multivariate models used assess racialethnic disparities asthma outcomes effect health literacy ses estimates results compared white participants african american adults fared significantly worse asthma outcomes p 05 latino participants lower quality life 047 95 confidence interval ci 079 014 p 01 worse asthma control risk ratio rr 063 95 ci 041 098 p 04 differences ses partially explained disparities health literacy explained additional 202 differences quality life latinos whites differences hospitalization rates african american white adults remained rr 297 95 ci 109 812 p 03 conclusions health literacy appears overlooked factor explaining racial ethnic disparities asthma evidencebased low literacy strategies patient education counseling included comprehensive interventions