Health Literacy by Hispanic Ethnicity and its Association with Healthcare Experiences, Self-rated Health, and Quality of Life.

Health literacy allows people to find, understand, and use information to make health-related decisions. Although health literacy has been evaluated in different contexts, more than 20 years have passed since health literacy has been measured by Hispanic ethnicity using a large national sample of people in the United States. We used the National Institutes of Health All of Us Research Program data version 7 to assess the current status of health literacy by Hispanic ethnicity and understand associations between health literacy and healthcare experiences, self-rated health, and quality of life. A total of 134,778 participants were included, of which 12,923 identified as Hispanic or Latino (representing 9.6% of the total sample). Descriptive statistics were calculated, and a two-way ANOVA was used to explore differences in health literacy between Hispanics and non-Hispanics based on demographic characteristics including gender, age, nativity, education, employment status, and income. We found that health literacy was significantly lower among the Hispanic group (M = 13.3, SD = 2.3) when compared to the non-Hispanic group (M = 14.1, SD = 1.5). Health literacy scores also varied significantly by demographic characteristics, with the Hispanic group consistently scoring lower than the non-Hispanic group within each category. Health literacy was significantly associated with better healthcare experiences and self-rated health. Health literacy is a public health determinant, influencing both individual- and population-level health and well-being outcomes. Promoting health literacy at the patient-, institution-, and community-level may foster health equity.