The More You Know: Knowledge Can Increase Health Literacy among Older Adults, Even when Cognition Declines

​The results of a study looking at health literacy among older adults have "important implications for improving patient education," according to the authors writing in The Gerontologist. The study explored the relationship between the Short Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (STOFHLA)—a commonly used measure of health literacy—and health comprehension in 145 older adults. Performance of the STOFHLA was associated with increased recall of health information, even when the patients had age-related constraints on their cognitive ability. These findings, in theory, suggest that health literacy can be achieved in different ways, the authors said.