We quantified the association between health literacy and awareness of family health history using a nationwide cross-sectional study of 286,293 All of Us Research Program participants. Awareness of family health history was constructed as a binary outcome (1 = none at all vs. 0 = some/a lot). Health literacy (adequate vs. limited) was measured by the Brief Health Literacy Screening Tool. Modified Poisson regression models estimated unadjusted and adjusted prevalence ratios (PRs). Model 1 estimated the unadjusted relationship. Model 2 controlled for demographic factors. Model 3 further controlled for socioeconomic status. Models 4-6 further adjusted for health insurance, self-rated health status, and number of chronic health conditions, respectively. The average age was 53 years (SD = 17), with 4% who self-reported no awareness of family health history and 17% who had limited health literacy. Without controlling for confounders, participants with limited health literacy were 3.06 (95% CI: 2.95-3.17) times more likely than those with adequate health literacy to report no awareness of family health history. This significant association persisted but attenuated in Models 2 (adjusted PR aPR: 2.04, 95% CI: 1.96-2.12) and 3 (aPR: 1.43, 95% CI: 1.37-1.49). The association remained stable in Models 4-6 with the sequential addition of health insurance coverage (aPR: 1.42, 95% CI: 1.37-1.48), self-rated health status (aPR: 1.42, 95% CI: 1.36-1.47), and number of chronic health conditions (aPR: 1.42, 95% CI: 1.36-1.48). These findings indicate that increasing health literacy may increase awareness of family health history, which is vital for delivery of personalized healthcare and active patient participation in precision medicine.
Bather et al. (Mon,) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: