Inadequate health literacy, as measured by a patient’s ability to read, understand and follow medical instructions, is strongly linked to poor glycemic control and a high prevalence of retinopathy in type 2 diabetics, San Francisco researchers report in the July 24/31 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
A team led by Dr. Dean Schillinger of the University of California at San Francisco assessed the health literacy of 408 English- and Spanish-speaking type 2 diabetics and measured their hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels. The subjects were also questioned about any significant health problems they had. All subjects were older than 30 years of age and attended primary care clinics at a university-affiliated public hospital. Health literacy was measured using the short-form Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (sfTOFHLA) in English or Spanish. Mean HbA1c for the group as a whole was 8.5%.
The investigators found that for every point drop on the sfTOFHLA, there was an increase in HbA1c of 0.02 (p = .02).
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