Abstract B090: Understanding the impact of health literacy on the perceptions of health misinformation on social media in young adults

Abstract Background: The growth of social media as a health communication channel has fueled the spread of misinformation. Among U.S. adults, 80% of those aged 18–49 use social media, with this cohort predominately online. A relevant public health factor is health literacy, with 36% of adults having basic or below-basic levels. As health content on social media grows, it is critical to understand how health literacy influences young adults’ perceptions of misinformation, given their high social media usage. Methods: We used the 2022 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS 6) from the National Cancer Institute. Ordinal logistic regression assessed whether sociodemographic characteristics modified the relationship between numeracy and perceived accuracy of health information. Interaction terms included Cancer Diagnosis, Race/Ethnicity, and Social Media Frequency. Results: Of the 1,140 respondents, the mean age was 30 years; 62% were female, 57% held a college degree. Racial/ethnic composition was 46% white, 25% Hispanic, 14% Black, 8% Asian. Only 1.4% had a cancer diagnosis. Daily social media use was reported by 83%. About 25% found medical statistics hard to understand, and 57% agreed it was hard to tell whether health information on social media is true or false. Model 1 (unadjusted: OR=1.677, 95% CI: 1.435–1.958, p<0.0001) and Model 2 (adjusted: OR=1.649, 95% CI: 1.409–1.930, p<0.0001) showed a significant positive association between numeracy and perceived misinformation—indicating higher numeracy is linked to increased identification of misinformation. Among the interaction models, Social Media Frequency × Numeracy (Model 4) had the best fit and retained significance for numeracy (OR=1.601, 95% CI: 1.121–2.286, p=0.0096). The Cancer × Numeracy interaction (Model 3) produced the greatest model instability. Race/Ethnicity × Numeracy (Model 5) also retained model fit and statistical significance for numeracy, but its interaction term lacked significance. No interaction terms showed meaningful effect modification. Thus, numeracy alone emerged as the primary predictor of misinformation identification. Conclusions: Despite having lower health literacy than the national average, over half of young adults reported difficulty discerning health misinformation online. Given that young adults dominate social media use, public health communication must be tailored to their health literacy levels. Moreover, implementing health literacy interventions for young adults could support early disease and cancer prevention. Citation Format: Dayanara Ruiz. Understanding the impact of health literacy on the perceptions of health misinformation on social media in young adults [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 18th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities; 2025 Sep 18-21; Baltimore, MD. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2025;34(9 Suppl):Abstract nr B090.