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Journal of Public Health Advance Access originally published online on May 19, 2009
Journal of Public Health 2009 31(4):490-495; doi:10.1093/pubmed/fdp049
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© The Author 2009, Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health. All rights reserved

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



Aleksandra Jovic-Vranes, Assistant Professor1

Vesna Bjegovic-Mikanovic, Professor1

Jelena Marinkovic, Professor2
1 Institute of Social Medicine, Medical School, Belgrade University, Dr Subotica 15, Belgrade, Serbia
2 Institute of Medical Statistics and Informatics, Medical School, Belgrade University, Dr Subotica 15, Belgrade, Serbia

Address correspondence to Aleksandra Jovic Vranes, E-mail: aljvranes{at}yahoo.co.uk


  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, self-perception 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.

Keywords: functional health literacy, primary health-care patients, Serbia, TOFHLA


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