Health literacy as a determinant, mediator and/or moderator of health: empirical models using the European Health Literacy Survey dataset.

Comprehensive HL is a critical, direct determinant of health. Therefore comprehensive HL has a considerable potential for health promotion to improve population health and tackle the health gap. But comprehensive HL measurement should be standardised in every country to allow for designing adequate measures for the specific situation of the country and also for benchmarking. For better understanding of the causal structure of the impact of HL on health, longitudinal studies will be needed.