FOUR OUT of 10 people in Ireland have difficulty understanding information about their health, a new survey has found.
Health literacy, which is a person’s ability to understand basic health information, was found to be lowest among the poor and those with lower levels of education.
It includes information received in writing, in person or over the phone, as well as the ability to understand treatment options and make informed health decisions,
With the data gathered by University College Dublin this summer, the European Health Literacy survey found that vulnerable groups such as those experiencing long-term illness, financial hardship and those from lower socio-economic groups had the lowest levels of literacy when it came to health issues.
Speaking about the findings, Dr Gerardine Doyle, principal investigator for Ireland, said: “One of the key findings of the study is that there is a strong relationship between health literacy and education. Those with lower education have a lower level of health literacy.”
Dr Doyle said this had “important implications for the development and integration of health matters in the school curricula from the earliest stages of education”.
Low levels of health literacy have been found to lead to poorer health, poor quality of self-care and self-management of disease, ineffective use of the health service and a decreased ability to seek treatment in the healthcare system.
Funded by the EU Commission and the Department of Health, the survey found that more than 17 per cent of people have difficulty understanding leaflets that accompany medicines, almost 20 per cent would find it difficult to understand what to do in a medical emergency and 30 per cent have difficulty finding information about stress and depression.
The Netherlands was found to have the highest levels of health literacy, with just 28 per cent of people having low health literacy.
The European average was 46 per cent, with Spain and Bulgaria ranking as the least health literate.
The survey results were announced at the launch of the fifth annual Crystal Clear MSD Health Literacy Awards, designed to recognise and reward excellence in health literacy.
For more information, visit health literacy.ie
