Association between multiple chronic conditions and insufficient health literacy: cross-sectional evidence from a population-based sample of older adults living in Switzerland

Table 2 Partial associations between multimorbidity, number of chronic conditions and health literacy levels, adults aged 58+, SHARE Switzerland, 2019/2020, n=1,615

	Health literacy levels
	Health literacy score	Problematic vs Sufficient	Inadequate vs Sufficient
Multimorbidity (vs no multimorbidity)	-0.48^** (0.16)	0.04^** (0.01)	0.03^** (0.01)
Number of chronic conditions
1 (vs 0)	-0.42^*	0.04	0.02
	(0.18)	(0.02)	(0.01)
2 (vs 0)	-0.56^**	0.05^**	0.03^**
	(0.21)	(0.02)	(0.01)
3+ (vs 0)	-0.88^***	0.07^**	0.04^**
	(0.25)	(0.02)	(0.01)

The table shows average partial effects and standard errors in parentheses from separate models for multimorbidity and the number of chronic conditions
The ordinary least squares regression and ordered probit regression models control for sex, age partnership status, linguistic region, education levels, subjective financial situation and living area
Concerning the interpretation of the average partial effects, the estimate for multimorbidity in the ordered probit regression, for instance, means that individuals with multimorbidity had a 4-percentage point higher probability of problematic health literacy, compared to individuals without multimorbidity
Statistical significance: * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001

ISSN: 1471-2458