Health literacy in an urban elderly East-German population – results from the population-based CARLA study

摘要

BackgroundHealth literacy (HL) has gained increasing attention in public health research. However, until now research was mainly focused on clinical settings rather than on the general population. Due its relation to social determinants and health outcomes, HL is of special interest in epidemiological studies. The aim of the present study was therefore to describe HL among an elderly general high-risk population, to analyze the potential contributing factors of HL, and to analyze the impact of HL on health-related outcomes>.