Poor Reading Skills Might Be Fatal for Older Folks

Being unable to read and understand basic health information might have a deadly outcome for older people, new research reveals.

The study included nearly 8,000 adults in England, aged 52 and older, who completed a test of functional health literacy -- the ability to use reading skills to understand health-related information. Specifically, the test assessed a person's understanding of written instructions for taking aspirin. About one-third of the participants could not completely understand the instructions, demonstrating poor health literacy.

The tests were administered in 2004-2005, and deaths among the participants were monitored until October 2009. During that follow-up period, there were a total of 621 deaths: 321 (6 percent) in the group of people who had high scores on the health literacy test; 143 (9 percent) in the group with medium scores; and 157 (16 percent) in the group with low health literacy scores.