Association between older people's health literacy and sociodemographic aspects, functioning, happiness, and perception of the COVID-19 pandemic: a preliminary study.
Beatriz Martins Aragão, Andrezza Gonzalez Escarce, Carla Salles Chamouton and 1 others
PMID 39936811WHAT IT FOUND
In 37 older adults, lower health literacy was linked to less education and more difficulty with cognition and self-care.
It was also associated with feeling less calm. However, health literacy did not influence how they perceived the pandemic or their overall happiness.
Key findings
01Health literacy scores were significantly associated with years of schooling, with those having less than four years of education showing higher rates of inadequate literacy.
02Higher health literacy correlated with better function in cognition and self-care domains, and was associated with feeling calm and relaxed more often.
03Health literacy was not significantly associated with age, sex, socioeconomic class, or the participants' perception of the COVID-19 pandemic.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample size was very small (37 participants) and non-probabilistic, limiting generalizability. The study was cross-sectional, so it cannot determine if low health literacy causes poor function or vice versa. The perception of the pandemic questions had a restricted scope. The study was described by the authors as preliminary and not designed to provide robust evidence for clinical changes.
Declared interests
Funded by CAPES and CNPq (Brazilian government research agencies). No commercial conflicts declared.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that improving health literacy will directly improve physical mobility or happiness. The study found no significant association between health literacy and these factors, and the sample was too small to draw firm conclusions about any causal relationship.