[Complex assessment of health literacy among patients living with ischemic heart disease].

Abstract

Introduction: Cardiovascular diseases are the leading causes of death worldwide in both sexes, while ischemic heart disease is the most frequent one among them. The generic term for the skills of acquiring, understanding and applying health-related information is health literacy, which can predict health status and cardiovascular mortality on more levels of prevention. Objective: To examine the level and psychodemographic associations of health literacy among patients living with ischemic heart disease. Method: In our cross-sectional, questionnaire study, we measured health literacy with Brief Health Literacy Screening (BHLS), Short Test of Functional Health Literacy for Adults (S-TOFHLA) and Heart Disease Knowledge Questionnaire together with lifestyle-related and psychological characteristics (Brief Vital Exhaustion Questionnaire, Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire, Medication Adherence Report Scale, health behavior and subjective health status) in a Hungarian ischemic heart disease patient sample (n = 78). Results: The scores of patients did not differ significantly from the Hungarian standards in none of the health literacy tests. In S-TOFHLA only 6.4%, in BHLS only 3.8% of the subjects showed non-adequate results. Functional health literacy was predicted significantly by age and vital exhaustion (F(72) = 3.94), independently only by the latter. 25.7% of the variance of disease knowledge was explained by the multivariate regression model containing age, education and functional health literacy (F(74) = 8.18); independent predictors were education and functional health literacy. Self-perceived health literacy was predicted significantly by explaining 41.2% of its variance by age, education, vital exhaustion, disease knowledge and risk behaviour, independently by education and vital exhaustion. The effects of different types of health literacies on health outcomes were tested by further regression analyses: they explained 29.8% of the variance of illness perception significantly (F(3) = 9.321), its independent predictor was only BHLS. Conclusion: The role of vital exhaustion was pointed out by our results beyond the well-known predictors of health literacy. Furthermore, we confirmed the effect of health literacy both on disease knowledge and illness perception. Planning future patient education should involve the level of health literacy. Orv Hetil. 2024; 165(30): 1166–1175.