Relationship between literacy skills and self-reported health in the Nordic countries

Abstract

Aims: This study investigated the association between literacy skills and self-reported health among Danish (n = 7284), Finnish (n = 5454), Norwegian (n = 4942) and Swedish (n = 4555) participants aged 16-65 years. Methods: Logistic regression models were used to assess the association between literacy skills and self-reported health after adjusting for sex, age and educational level. Results: Nordic participants aged 16-65 years with literacy skills at the lowest level reported sub-optimal health more often (28-37%) than those with literacy skills at the highest level (7-9%). After adjusting for sex, age and educational level, the likelihood of reporting sub-optimal health was 1.99-3.24 times as high for those with literacy skills at the lowest level as for those with literacy skills at the highest level. Conclusions: These results suggest that poor literacy skills increase the likelihood of experiencing poor health in the Nordic countries, even after controlling for educational level.