Health Literacy Among Older Smartphone Users Attending Outpatients Clinics at a Teaching Hospital in Middle-income Developing Nation

Abstract

Background: Health literacy is the ability to seek, understand, and use health knowledge, is considered crucial to successful management disease and to determinant of health status. This study aims to determine factors which influence health literacy of older adults attending outpatient clinics at a teaching hospital in a middle-income country. Methods: A convenient sample of smartphone users aged ≥55years, recruited from the hospital outpatient department,, were recruited. HL was measured with the European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire (HLS-EU-Q47) was utilized. The cut-off value of above 33 was considered adequate for the overall general HL index (GHLI) and well as individual domain indices. Results: Of the 580 respondents, mean (SD) age 67.9 (8.0) years and 319 (55.0%) women, 240 (41.3%) had GHLI score >33. Education, occupation, hypertension, high cholesterol and eye disease were associated with lower GHLI scores. Multivariate logistic regression models revealed that <5 years of education, homemakers and hypertension were independently associated with poorer GHLI scores, while all domain indices were additionally associated with ischaemic heart disease and DPI ≤33. Conclusions: Three out of five individuals aged ≥55 years scored beneath the desired cut-off for HCI. Lower education levels, homemakers, hypertension, high cholesterol and eye disease were independently associated with index scores ≤33 in at least one domain or the overall scores Future studies target individual with lower education levels, hypertension, high cholesterol, ischaemic heart disease and eye disease for interventions which enhance HL.