Can the Newest Vital Sign Be Used to Assess Health Literacy in Children and Adolescents?

• DOI: 10.1177/0009922813504025
• Publication Date: 2013-09-25T08:17:37Z
• Authors: Joel Warsh; Roopa Chari; Adam Badaczewski; Jobayer Hossain; Iman Sharif
• Keywords: Male; Adolescent; Age Factors; Health Surveys; Health Literacy; 03 medical and health sciences; Cross-Sectional Studies; 0302 clinical medicine; Reading; Humans; Female; Educational Measurement; Child; Comprehension

Context. We evaluated the validity of the Newest Vital Sign (NVS) as a brief screen for health literacy in children. Objectives. To ( a) test the hypothesis that child performance on the NVS correlates with performance on a test of child reading comprehension and ( b) establish age-based cutoffs for expected performance on the NVS. Design. Children aged 7 to 17 years were administered the NVS followed by the Gray Silent Reading Test (GSRT). Results. The NVS score correlated strongly with GSRT score (ρ = 0.71, P < .0001) and increased with age. Children aged 7 to 9 years had a median NVS score of 1 (interquartile range = 1-2); children aged 10 to 17 years had a median score of 3 (interquartile range = 2-4), P < .0001. Conclusion. The NVS performs well in this population. Children aged 10 to 17 years with an NVS score lower than 2 may have low health literacy.