Health literacy, health status, and healthcare utilization of Taiwanese adults: results from a national survey

BMC Public Health

Table 1 Socio-demographic Attributes and Health Literacy Level of a National Sample of Adults in Taiwan, 2008

	N	%	MHLS Score	Inadequate HL		Marginal HL		Adequate HL		X²-test p-value
			mean (SD)	N	%	N	%	N	%
Entire Sample	1493	100.0	39.2 (14,8)	205	13.7	247	16.5	1041	69.7
Age										<0.001
18-24 years	149	10.0	45.0 (6.2)	4	2.7	16	10.7	129	86.6
25-39 years	456	30.5	45.0 (6.6)	12	2.6	48	10.5	396	86.8
40-49 years	292	19.6	43.9 (7.1)	10	3.4	47	16.1	235	80.5
50-64 years	358	24.0	38.1 (14.8)	52	14.5	80	22.4	226	63.1
≥65 years	237	15.9	20.6 (20.2)	126	53.2	56	23.6	53	23.2
Gender										0.07
Male	736	49.3	40.0 (13.5)	91	12.4	136	18.5	509	69.2
Female	757	50.7	38.5 (15.9)	114	15.1	111	14.7	532	70.3
Years of Schooling										<0.001
0 year	105	7.0	0.3 (3.4)	104	99.0	1	0.9	0	0.0
1-6 years	246	16.5	30.3 (17.6)	73	29.7	90	36.6	83	33.7
7-12 years	597	40.0	42.8 (6.8)	28	4.7	131	21.9	438	73.4
13-16 years	481	32.2	46.7 (2.8)	0	0.0	24	5.0	457	95.0
≥17 years	64	4.3	48.0 (2.4)	0	0.0	1	1.6	63	98.4
Household Income ^a										<0.001^b
≤50% of average	342	22.9	32.4 (18.4)	93	27.2	81	23.7	168	49.1
51-75% of average	252	16.9	41.4 (11.6)	23	9.1	44	17.5	185	73.4
76-100% of average	193	12.9	43.6 (9.4)	10	5.2	23	11.9	160	82.9
>100% of average	393	26.3	45.3 (6.5)	7	1.8	40	10.2	346	88.0
Missing	313	21.0	34.7(18.0)	72	23.0	59	18.9	182	58.2
Residential Location										<0.001
Metropolitan city	367	24.6	42.0 (12.4)	28	7.6	50	13.6	289	78.8
Mid-size city	509	34.1	41.2 (12.1)	45	8.8	96	18.9	368	72.3
Small city	324	21.7	38.8 (15.0)	48	14.8	52	16.1	224	69.1
Rural/remote area	292	19.6	32.7 (19.1)	84	28.8	49	16.8	159	54.4

^a The national average of annual household income in 2007 was around NT$923,875. (Source: Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, Executive Yuan. Report on the Survey of Family Income and Expenditure in Taiwan Area of Republic of China.).

ISSN: 1471-2458