measuring adult literacy in health care performance of the newest vital sign

• DOI: 10.5555/ajhb.2007.31.supp.s36
• Publication Date: 2007-07-01
• Authors: Terry C. Davis; Christopher Rodrigue; Barry D. Weiss; Pat F. Bass; Silvia Skripkauskas; Chandra Y. Osborn; Michael S. Wolf
• Keywords: Adult; Aged, 80 and over; Male; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Predictive Value of Tests; Surveys and Questionnaires; Educational Status; Humans; Female; Health Services; Middle Aged; Aged

To compare performance of the newest vital sign (NVS) with existing literacy measures.We administered the NVS and REALM to 129 patients, and NVS and S-TOFHLA to 119 patients all in public clinics.The NVS demonstrated high sensitivity for detecting limited literacy and moderate specificity (area under the receiver operating characteristic [AUROC] curve 0.71-0.73). The NVS was less effective than the S-TOFHLA for predicting health outcomes.The NVS is able to identify patients with limited literacy skills, but may misclassify those with adequate literacy according to the REALM and S-TOFHLA. NVS scores were not associated with health outcomes.