Poorer past cognitive functioning (measured 10 years earlier) is associated with low health literacy in older adults¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associationalr2·q3·i1small
Currency · newest study 2018 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r
the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.
This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q3 i1 Better cognitive functioning measured 10 years earlier was associated with lower odds of low health literacy (education-adjusted ORs per SD 0.51–0.75, all p < .05; n = 729–734), which the authors read as health literacy reflecting lifelong general cognitive ability; the association cannot show cause. → Geboers B 2018
Evidence¶
Geboers B 2018¶
Geboers B, Uiters E, Reijneveld SA, Jansen CJM, Almansa J, Nooyens ACJ, Verschuren WMM, de Winter AF, Picavet HSJ. (2018). Health literacy among older adults is associated with their 10-years' cognitive functioning and decline - the Doetinchem Cohort Study. BMC Geriatrics. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-018-0766-7
q3 · i1 · associational · r2
Logistic regression analyses in the Doetinchem Cohort Study (988 participants in all) using cognitive data from round four, 10 years earlier, which was available for 737 of them; the past-cognition models use 729–734. The abstract summarises these as "all ORs < 0.75"; Table 2's odds ratios of low health literacy per SD of better past functioning, adjusted for age, gender and education, are 0.71 for memory, 0.71 for processing speed, 0.75 for mental flexibility (95% CI 0.56–1.00) and 0.51 for global cognitive functioning, all p < .05. Better past cognitive functioning goes with lower odds of low health literacy; this is an association and cannot show cause. Authors state this supports the conclusion that health literacy reflects lifelong general cognitive ability.
"Similar associations were found for past cognitive functioning (all ORs < 0.75, p-values<.05)."
Discussion¶
Learner Variables¶
- General Cognitive Ability — predictor: learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Related Claims¶
- Cognitive decline occurred in all domains between the two measurement waves among participants with cognitive data at both time points — related
- Health literacy measures are strongly correlated with fluid and crystallized cognitive abilities in older adults — related
- Participants with low health literacy had poorer cognitive functioning in all domains and were more often (very) low-educated — related
- Lower health literacy and weaker cognitive abilities are associated with poorer performance on common healthcare tasks — related
- Poorer current cognitive functioning in all domains is associated with low health literacy in older adults — related
- Stronger cognitive decline is associated with greater likelihood of low health literacy, but only memory decline remains significant after adjusting for educational level — related
- The association between health literacy and health task performance is substantially reduced after adjusting for cognitive abilities — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
poorer-past-cognition-associated-low-health-literacy |
title |
Poorer past cognitive functioning (measured 10 years earlier) is associated with low health literacy in older adults |
description |
Poorer past cognitive functioning (measured 10 years earlier) is associated with low health literacy in older adults |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
moderate |
newest_evidence |
2018 |
source_checked |
2026-10-20 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-17 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — geboers-b-2018 |
Frontmatter is the page's machine-readable record — see the Schema & Guide.