Paul A Buescher, Alexander E White, Darren A DeWalt
Seleted data related to health literacy in North Carolina
North Carolina medical journal
h2abstracth2h3purposeh3 examine impact low health literacy medical care use costs h3methodsh3 study sample consisted 3260 noninstitutionalized elderly persons enrolling medicare managed care plan 1997 cleveland ohio houston texas south florida tampa florida health literacythe degree individuals capacity obtain process understand basic health information services needed make appropriate health decisionswas measured using short test functional health literacy adults used 2part regression model examine association health literacy medical costs adjusting age sex raceethnicity education income alcohol tobacco consumption comorbid conditions results presented mean differences 95 confidence intervals ci inadequate adequate groups separately marginal adequate groups h3resultsh3 compared adequate health literacy emergency room costs significantly higher 108 95 ci 62 154 ipi 00001 among inadequate health literacy differences total 1551 95 ci 166 3267 ipi 008 inpatient 1543 95 ci 89 3175 ipi 006 costs marginally significant total costs higher marginal health literacy group difference significant 596 95 ci 1437 2630 ipi 057 h3conclusionsh3 persons inadequate health literacy incur higher medical costs use inefficient mix services