Health literacy among cancer survivors: Results from the 2016 behavioral risk factor surveillance system survey

Health literacy is a set of knowledge and skills that enables individuals to obtain, communicate, process and understand information, and services to make appropriate health decisions and to successfully navigate the health care system. Health literacy is important to quality of cancer survivorship care and patient self-management of their disease. We examined health literacy among cancer survivors, using data from the 2016 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. We compared health literacy across various demographic and socioeconomic groups and estimated the adjusted odds in favor of low health literacy for these characteristics. We found that about 16% of the cancer survivors had low health literacy. The prevalence was higher among Hispanic and Black individuals, and among those with poor health status, low income and educational attainment. A sizeable percentage of cancer survivors have low health literacy which is likely to complicate their ability to self-manage their disease and navigate the health care system for optimal care. In order to ensure the quality and appropriateness of cancer survivorship care, effective interventions are needed to address low health literacy in these populations.