The troubling statistics on health literacy may underlie some of the most challenging health problems facing the United States, from prescription adherence, increased hospitalization, rising care costs and health disparities. Adults with low literacy skills “have less knowledge of disease management and of health-promoting behaviors, report poorer health status and are less likely to use preventive services,” the report concludes.

The IOM authors recommend further research into the connections between literacy, education and health, especially as they relate to different cultural backgrounds and an increasingly aging nation. The report also calls for more federal agencies, from the Veterans’ Administration to the National Institutes of Health, to encourage health literacy programs in the context of the care and studies that they offer publicly.

A second report from the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research, also released April 8, contains an evidence review of the links between health literacy and health outcomes. The review includes studies from 1980 to 2003 that analyze literacy’s influence on the use of health care services, health outcomes and costs and disparities. The report also examines studies of effective interventions to improve outcomes among low-literacy patients.

Read the IOM report, “Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion” at here. To download the full text of the AHRQ report as a zipped file, go here.