Return-Path: <nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id j9GGoeG25474; Sun, 16 Oct 2005 12:50:41 -0400 (EDT) Date: Sun, 16 Oct 2005 12:50:41 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <4e0c524f0510160948r32024272lb316dd405e72ed2d@mail.gmail.com> Errors-To: listowner@nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: Beth Sherberger <bethsherberger@gmail.com> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-WOMENLIT:3345] Women and Health Literacy X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Status: O Content-Length: 2505 Lines: 49 Hello, I found an interesting article on women and health literacy. "At least a quarter of Americans read at the fifth grade level or below, while the majority of patient education materials are written at or above the 10th-grade level. In fact, less than half the adult population in the U.S. understands many commonly used medical words.Low health literacy affects people regardless of race, ethnicity, income level and geographic location. Of the 90 million estimated to have problems understanding health information, just 15 percent were born outside the country, and only five percent describe themselves as having a learning disability. Actually, the majority of adults with poor literacy are white, native-born Americans. Still, the IOM report finds, the problem is greatest among older people, those with limited education and those with limited proficiency in English, immigrants, for example. The Center for Health Care Strategies finds that a disproportionate number of minorities and immigrants are estimated to have literacy problems, including 50 percent of Hispanics, 40 percent of African Americans, and 33 percent of Asians. It is one major reason for the health disparity found between minorities and Caucasians, says Ms. Scudder. Health literacy also seems to affect women more than men, possibly because women interact more with the health care system.6 Which, in turn, significantly affects women's health. For instance, studies find that women who have low health literacy are significantly more likely to have never had a Pap smear in their life, or not to have had a mammogram in the past two years. They're also less likely to breastfeed.6 It affects women's overall quality of life, as well. One study of nearly 1,000 women with breast cancer found that nearly half said the information they received on several medical aspects of their condition was "incomprehensible or incomplete." The worse the communication with the medical staff, the study found, the worse the women's quality life remained for up to four years after their diagnosis. Other studies find that people with low health literacy are hospitalized more, have more difficulties using metered dose inhalers (for asthma and other lung conditions), and have worse HbA1c levels, an indication of how well people with diabetes manage their blood sugar levels over time, than those with higher literacy levels." To read the full text, please go to http://www.healthywomen.org/healthreport/october2004/pg2.html
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