Low income and health literacy: a systematic scoping review.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Social inequalities in health care remain a pressing issue with direct consequences for treatment outcomes. One complex mechanism contributing to this inequality involves patient's health literacy - including their ability to perceive a medical need and understand the availability of care. This scoping review aims to examine whether economically disadvantaged groups are at greater risk of low health literacy and to identify potential intervention targets to improve health care access and equity.

Methods

We systematically searched MEDLINE (Ovid) in May 2022 and again in November 2024 for peer-reviewed original studies (English/German; 2000-2024) from high-income countries that compared lower- versus higher-income groups on health literacy.

Results

Drawing on

SUBMITTER: Gero K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12667132 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature