Seniors: Health Literacy and Healthy Aging

There are 36 million adults age 65 or older living in the U.S., and this population struggles with understanding and acting on health information more than any other age group.1 It is critical that we help older adults effectively navigate and utilize the health care system and the information they need to stay healthy. • Older adults have documented health literacy problems. The 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy included the first-ever national assessment of health literacy, which found that adults age 65 and older have lower health lit-eracy scores than all other age groups surveyed. Only 3 percent of the older adults who were surveyed were measured as proficient. 2 • For the growing population of older Americans aged 65 years or older—expected to reach more than 71 million by 2030—difficulties with health literacy can complicate already challenging health problems. 2 Work with sponsors of local health care events (e.g., health fairs, public workshops, or free screenings) to spread the word about improving health literacy for older adults