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21 Feb 2025

An indicator of health literacy and numeracy of patients in your area (England)

In England, 43% of working-age adults struggle to understand health information that uses words, rising to 61% when numbers are added (Rowlands et al. 2015). Poor health literacy is a key indicator of health inequalities. NHS England has launched this health literacy geodata tool, giving clinicians and managers insight into how to improve patient outcomes and services and to tackle health inequalities.

A person’s health literacy determines whether they are able to make appropriate health decisions and are able to follow treatment instructions1-2. Health literacy in orthopaedics is not well studied, but the studies that have been performed have directly correlated it with positive patient outcomes in aspects such as less pain and better function, better treatment adherence, and greater satisfaction3-6. Low health literacy in medicine and surgery has been directly linked to increased health-care costs, higher surgical complication rates, higher mortality, and worse patient-reported outcomes7-11.

References

  1. World Health Organization (WHO). Health Promotion Glossary. 1998. Available at: www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-HPR-HEP-98.1.
  2. Nutbeam D. Defining and measuring health literacy: what can we learn from literacy studies? Int J Public Health. 2009;54:303-5.
  3. Narayanan AS, Stoll KE, Pratson LF, Lin FC, Olcott CW, Del Gaizo DJ. Musculoskeletal Health Literacy is Associated With Outcome and Satisfaction of Total Knee Arthroplasty. J Arthroplasty. 2021;36(7S):S192-7.
  4. Lacey RJ, Campbell P, Lewis M, Protheroe J. The Impact of Inadequate Health Literacy in a Population with Musculoskeletal Pain. Health Lit Res Pract. 2018;2(4):e215-20.
  5. Roh YH, Lee BK, Park MH, Noh JH, Gong HS, Baek GH. Effects of health literacy on treatment outcome and satisfaction in patients with mallet finger injury. J Hand Ther. 2016;29(4):459-64.
  6. Cosic F, Kimmel L, Edwards E. Health Literacy in Orthopaedic Trauma Patients. J Orthop Trauma. 2017;31(3):e90-5.
  7. Wright JP, Edwards GC, Goggins K, Tiwari V, Maiga A, Moses K, Kripalani S, Idrees K. Association of Health Literacy With Postoperative Outcomes in Patients Undergoing Major Abdominal Surgery. JAMA Surg. 2018;153(2):137-42.
  8. Shahid R, Shoker M, Chu LM, Frehlick R, Ward H, Pahwa P. Impact of low health literacy on patients’ health outcomes: a multicenter cohort study. BMC Health Serv Res. 2022;22(1):1148.
  9. Theiss LM, Wood T, McLeod MC, Shao C, Santos Marques ID, Bajpai S, Lopez E, Duong AM, Hollis R, Morris MS, Chu DI. The association of health literacy and postoperative complications after colorectal surgery: A cohort study. Am J Surg. 2022;223(6):1047-52.
  10. Peterson PN, Shetterly SM, Clarke CL, Bekelman DB, Chan PS, Allen LA, Matlock DD, Magid DJ, Masoudi FA. Health literacy and outcomes among patients with heart failure. JAMA. 2011;305(16):1695-701. 
  11. Hälleberg Nyman M, Nilsson U, Dahlberg K, Jaensson M. Association Between Functional Health Literacy and Postoperative Recovery, Health Care Contacts, and Health-Related Quality of Life Among Patients Undergoing Day Surgery: Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Surg. 2018;153(8):738-45.
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