Functional health literacy and the risk of hospital admission among Medicare managed care enrollees

David W. Baker, Julie A. Gazmararian, Mark V. Williams, Tracy Scott, Ruth M. Parker, Diane Green, Junling Ren, Jennifer Peel

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

757 Scopus citations

Abstract

Objectives. This study analyzed whether inadequate functional health literacy is an independent risk factor for hospital admission. Methods. We studied a prospective cohort of 3260 Medicare managed care enrollees. Results. Of the participants, 29.5% were hospitalized. The crude relative risk (RR) of hospitalization was higher for individuals with inadequate literacy (n=800; RR= 1.43; 95% confidence interval [Cl]=1.24, 1.65) and marginal literacy (n=366; RR=1.33; 95% Cl=1.09, 1.61) than for those with adequate literacy (n=2094). In multivariate analysis, the adjusted relative risk of hospital admission was 1.29 (95% Cl=1.07, 1.55) for individuals with inadequate literacy and 1.21 (95% Cl=0.97, 1.50) for those with marginal literacy. Conclusions. Inadequate literacy was an independent risk factor for hospital admission among elderly managed care enrollees.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1278-1283
Number of pages6
JournalAmerican journal of public health
Volume92
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - 2002

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