Identifying At-Risk Subpopulations of Canadians with Limited Health Literacy
Table 1
Descriptive summary statistics, 95% confidence interval, and bivariate tests by the IALSS respondents with and without limited health literacy.
Variables
All respondents (,038)
Total
Limited HL
Not limited HL
Difference (95% CL: LL, UL,)
(DF, value)
Limited HLd
29.3%
—
—
College educationc
40.0%
18.6%
48.5%
30.0 (28.6, 31.2)
1780.2 (1, )
Adult educationc
45.1%
20.7%
55.1%
34.3 (33.0, 35.7)
2182.8 (1, )
Read newspapersc
75.2%
65.9%
79.0%
13.1 (11.9, 14.3)
421.6 (1, )
Read booksd
41.7%
25.2%
48.4%
23.3 (21.9, 24.7)
1020.5 (1, )
Watch TV
NA
908.9 (3, )
1 hour or less per day
25.0%
18.8%
27.6%
—
—
Over 1 hour to 2 hours per day
33.0%
27.9%
35.1%
—
—
More than 2 hours but less than 5
33.5%
37.1%
32.1%
—
—
5 or more hours per day
8.5%
16.3%
5.3%
—
—
English was the first language learnedc
50.2%
40.5%
54.1%
13.6 (12.2, 15.1)
341.6 (1, )
English is the primary languagec
62.0%
55.2%
64.7%
9.6 (8.1, 11.0)
163.9 (1, )
Age group
NA
2256.8 (5, )
16–25
16.8%
10.9%
19.2%
—
—
26–35
15.5%
10.3%
17.7%
—
—
36–45
21.3%
16.5%
23.3%
—
—
46–55
20.2%
17.4%
21.3%
—
—
56–65
13.3%
17.1%
11.7%
—
—
66 and older
12.9%
27.9%
6.7%
—
—
Self-rated health
NA
1322.6 (4, )
Poor
3.9%
7.8%
2.3%
—
—
Fair
11.5%
19.2%
8.4%
—
—
Good
29.0%
33.7%
27.1%
—
—
Very good
33.3%
25.0%
36.7%
—
—
Excellent
22.2%
14.3%
25.4%
—
—
Emotional problemc
8.9%
12.8%
7.3%
−5.6 (−6.4, −4.7)
175.1 (1, )
Life satisfaction
NA
396.9 (4, )
Extremely unsatisfied
1.8%
2.7%
1.4%
—
—
Unsatisfied
6.5%
9.9%
5.1%
—
—
Neither
9.6%
9.8%
9.5%
—
—
Satisfied
61.3%
62.7%
60.7%
—
—
Extremely satisfied
21.0%
15.0%
23.4%
—
—
Household income
NA
1739.6 (3, )
$25,000 or less (bottom quintile)
25.3%
43.4%
18.2%
—
—
$25,000.01 to $50,000
30.7%
33.7%
29.5%
—
—
$50,000.01 to $90,000
28.5%
16.6%
33.1%
—
—
More than $90,000.01 (top quintile)
15.6%
6.3%
19.2%
—
—
Employedc
61.9%
41.5%
70.4%
29.0 (27.6, 30.3)
1696.4 (1, )
Studentc
5.7%
3.2%
6.7%
3.6 (2.9, 4.2)
113.3 (1, )
Urban areasc
74.4%
72.3%
75.3%
3.0 (1.7, 4.4)
18.5 (1, )
Regions
NA
Atlantic
20.3%
23.0%
19.2%
−3.8 (−5.0, −2.7)
43.0 (1, )
Quebec
18.1%
14.5%
20.0%
5.1 (4.0, 6.1)
82.3 (1, )
Ontario
21.5%
23.8%
20.5%
3.0 (1.7, 4.4)
31.0 (1, )
West
28.9%
26.4%
30.0%
3.6 (2.3, 4.9)
30.2 (1, )
North
11.2%
12.3%
10.8%
−1.5 (−2.4, −0.6)
11.2 (1, )
Gender (female)c
54.5%
53.4%
55.0%
1.7 (0.3, 3.1)
5.2 (1, )
Immigrantsc
18.2%
25.7%
15.1%
−10.6 (−11.7, −9.4)
315.5 (1, )
Born in Canadac
71.8%
64.4%
74.9%
10.6 (9.3, 11.8)
263.1 (1, )
Data source: International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey (IALSS) 2003.
bAll descriptive summary statistics are unweighted
cDummy variables (1 versus 0).
dLimited health literacy: health literacy level 1; nonlimited health literacy: health literacy level 2,3, and 4. NA: not applicable; HL: health literacy; CL: confidence interval; UL: upper limit; LL: lower limit; DF: degrees of freedom; IALSS = International Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey.