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Health Literacy Within a Diverse Community-Based Cohort: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis

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A Correction to this article was published on 13 January 2021

This article has been updated

Abstract

Background

Health literacy has yet to be described in a non-clinical, racially diverse, community-based cohort.

Methods

Four questions assessing health literacy were asked during annual phone encounters with Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) participants between 2016 and 2018 (n = 3629). We used prevalence ratios (PRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) to characterize how demographic and acculturation factors related to limited health literacy. Models adjusted for age, sex, and race/ethnicity, and race/ethnicity-stratified models were also examined.

Results

Limited health literacy was prevalent in 15.4% of the sample. Participants who were older, female, lower-income, or less acculturated were at greater risk for having limited health literacy. Chinese, Hispanic, and Black participants were more likely than White participants to have limited health literacy. Patterns were similar when stratified by race/ethnicity.

Discussion

Within MESA limited health literacy was common, particularly among Chinese and Hispanic participants, with some of the variance explained by differences in acculturation.

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Acknowledgments

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number T32 HL07779 (Ms. Anderson). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. MESA is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) contract. The NIH was involved in the overall MESA study design and data collection. However the NIH was not involved with the analysis, and interpretation of data; writing the report; and the decision to submit the report for publication. The authors gratefully acknowledge support from the Minnesota Population Center (P2C HD041023) funded through a grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). This research was supported by contracts HHSN268201500003I, N01-HC-95159, N01-HC-95160, N01-HC-95161, N01-HC-95162, N01-HC-95163, N01-HC-95164, N01-HC-95165, N01-HC-95166, N01-HC-95167, N01-HC-95168 and N01-HC-95169 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and by grants UL1-TR-000040, UL1-TR-001079, and UL1-TR-001420 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). The authors thank the other investigators, the staff, and the participants of the MESA study for their valuable contributions.

A full list of participating MESA investigators and institutions can be found at http://www.mesa-nhlbi.org. No financial disclosures were reported by the authors of this paper.

Funding

No financial disclosures were reported by the authors of this paper. MESA is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) contract. The NIH was involved in the overall MESA study design and data collection. However the NIH was not involved with the analysis, and interpretation of data; writing the report; and the decision to submit the report for publication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Minnesota, 1300 S 2nd St, Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA

    Madison D. Anderson, Rachel Widome & Pamela L. Lutsey

  2. Division of Geriatrics, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Sharon Stein Merkin

  3. Department of Medicine, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Susan A. Everson-Rose

  4. Department of Epidemiology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Teresa Seeman

  5. Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Jared W. Magnani

  6. Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA

    Carlos J. Rodriguez

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  1. Madison D. Anderson
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Correspondence to Madison D. Anderson.

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The original online version of this article was revised: The typo in author name Susan A. Everson-Rose has been corrected.

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Anderson, M.D., Merkin, S.S., Everson-Rose, S.A. et al. Health Literacy Within a Diverse Community-Based Cohort: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. J Immigrant Minority Health 23, 659–667 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-020-01123-1

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