Objective To understand the current situation of health literacy and its influencing factors among college students in the new era

so as to provide a basis for improving health education in colleges and universities and formulating targeted health literacy intervention strategies and measures. Methods Using a multi-stage stratified whole-group random sampling method

2 231 college students in a comprehensive university in Henan Province were selected as survey subjects and health literacy questionnaires were conducted. The chi-square test and multi-factor logistic regression were used to analyze their influencing factors. Results A total of 815 survey subjects had health literacy

and the health literacy rate of the survey subjects was 36.53%. There were statisti-cally significant differences in health literacy levels among survey respondents with different gender

ethnicity

grade

place of residence

profession

father’s and mother’s education level

family size and per capita monthly household income（P<0.05）. The health literacy levels of the survey respondents in the 3 dimensions from highest to lowest were basic health skills（44.15%）

basic health knowledge and concept（38.19%）

and healthy lifestyle and behavior（36.93%）. The differences in health literacy levels in the 3 dimensions were statistically significant（P<0.05） among respondents with different gender

profession

place of residence

fathers’ educa-tion level

and family size. The results of multi-factor logistic regression analysis showed that gender

ethnicity

profession

place of residence

father’s education level and family size were the influencing factors on the health literacy level of survey respondents（P<0.05）

in which the health literacy level of survey respondents who were female

Han Chinese

medical majors and with father’s education level of high school/junior high school and above was higher

while the health literacy level of survey respondents who lived in rural areas and had a large number of family members was lower（P<0.05）. Conclusion There is still much room for improving the health literacy level of college students

and health education should be carried out in a targeted manner using campus resources to improve the health literacy level of students.