Functional health literacy among primary health-care patients: Data from the Belgrade pilot study

Abstract

Background Over the last decade, health literacy has become a vibrant area of research. Our objective was to evaluate health literacy and its association with socio-demographic variables, self-perception of health and the presence of chronic conditions in primary health-care patients. Methods A cross-sectional study among 120 patients was conducted in two primary health-care centers. The test of functional health literacy in adults, a 50-item reading comprehension and 17-item numerical ability test (score, 0-100) were administered. Chi-square test and logistic regression analyses were applied. Results Inadequate and marginal health literacy existed in 43 participants (41.0%), and adequate health literacy was present in 62 participants (59.0%). Functional health literacy was significantly different by location, gender, age, marital status, employment, education, material status, selfperception of health and presence of chronic conditions. Based on the multivariate analysis, health literacy was significantly associated with the participant's age (odds ratio [OR], 4.86; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.41-9.80; P = 0.000), level of education (OR, 4.48; 95% CI, 1.73-11.57; P = 0.002) and chronic conditions (OR, 1.90; 95% CI, 1.16-3.11; P = 0.010). Conclusion These results provide evidence that limitations in functional health literacy are widespread among primary health-care patients and encourage efforts for further monitoring. Low health literacy may impair a patient's understanding of health messages and limit their ability to attend to their medical problems.