In the past 15 years, researchers have demonstrated that low literacy can have far-reaching consequences for an individual’s health. In our 2004 systematic review and related articles,49,50 we identified 44 articles describing results that addressed the relationship between literacy and use of health care services, health outcomes, costs of health care, and disparities. The report found that low or inadequate literacy (compared to adequate literacy) was strongly associated with poorer knowledge or comprehension of health care services and health Limited literacy was also associated with higher probability of hospitalization, higher prevalence and severity for some chronic diseases, poorer global.
