National survey shows association between health literacy and obesity, physical activity in different age groups, indicating targeted strategies are needed.
Key Points
Evaluate the association between health literacy and lifestyles in Italian adults aged under and over 65 years.
Conducted national survey in Italy with a representative sample of 3,500 adults aged 18+.
Used a 47-item validated questionnaire to assess health literacy and lifestyles.
Employed multivariate logistic regression to analyze obesity, physical activity, diet, smoking in different age groups.
Higher prevalence of Limiting health literacy in O65 compared to U65 (68.1% vs 63.3%).
Unhealthy lifestyles more frequent in U65 with Limiting health literacy: smoking (34.4%), not daily fruit and vegetable diet (61.4%), and low physical activity (77.1%).
Low socioeconomic deprivation significantly higher in O65 (65.9%) compared to U65 (3.3%).