Health Literacy and Access to Care among Patients with and Without Traumatic Brain Injury: An All of Us Analysis.
Richard Cook, Kathleen R Ran, Vikas N Vattipally and 6 others
PMID 41217947WHAT IT FOUND
Patients with a history of traumatic brain injury are significantly more likely to report difficulty understanding health information, needing help with medical forms, and delaying care due to cost or transportation compared to matched controls.
Key findings
01Participants with TBI had significantly higher odds of reporting difficulty understanding health material and requiring assistance with health forms.
02Participants with TBI were significantly more likely to report being unable to afford emergency care and delaying care due to transportation issues.
03Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black participants with TBI reported higher rates of difficulty navigating health materials and financial barriers compared to non-Hispanic White participants.
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 study relies on self-reported survey data, which may not accurately reflect actual health literacy or access barriers. The All of Us cohort is self-enrolled and may not represent the general US population. TBI status was determined by EHR codes, which may miss undiagnosed cases or include misclassified ones. The study shows association, not causation; it is unclear if low health literacy contributes to TBI risk or results from it. There is no data on how long after the TBI diagnosis the surveys were completed, so the impact of time since injury is unknown.
Declared interests
The authors received no financial support and declared no potential conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that traumatic brain injury itself causes racial or income disparities in health literacy. The study found that these disparities were present across the entire cohort, with or without TBI, indicating they are broader systemic issues rather than specific consequences of the injury.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →