The impact of health literacy on chronic diseases: From individual mechanisms to inter-generational transmission

Chronic diseases are major contributors to morbidity and mortality, yet the role of health literacy in shaping disease risk across the life course and across generations remains insufficiently understood. Using the multi-generational Lifelines cohort, this project will examine how individual and parental health literacy are associated with incident chronic diseases, independent of socioeconomic and familial/genetic risk factors. We will assess overall and domain-specific health literacy, evaluate sex differences and maternal versus paternal pathways, and investigate lifestyle, preventive healthcare use, and offspring health literacy as potential mediators. The findings will inform targeted and family-based prevention strategies for healthy ageing.