Health Literacy and Health Care Utilization in Austria.

Q2 Medicine

Health literacy research and practice Pub Date : 2023-10-01 Epub Date: 2023-11-06 DOI:10.3928/24748307-20231019-01

Andreas Kvas, Gregor Kvas

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Abstract

Background: Efficient use of health care is crucial for health care systems; the literature reveals that health literacy (HL) plays an important role in health services utilization.

Objective: This study aimed to analyze the relationship between HL and health care utilization in Austria.

Methods: Registered data of 1,010 persons in the general population concerning costs of doctor visits, medication costs, and number, days, and costs of hospitalization were analyzed using a cross-sectional design for the observation period 2017 to 2019. HL was measured as general, digital, and navigational HL using the Austrian part of the European Health Literacy Survey between March 2020 and May 2020. Multivariable two-part hurdle regressions with generalized linear models, considering sociodemographic variables and chronic illnesses, were conducted to investigate the relationship between HL and health care utilization.

Key results: Navigational HL had a significant negative effect on the odds of causing costs at general practitioners, not adjusting (b = -0.02) and adjusting (b = -0.01) for sociodemographic variables and chronic illnesses. The effect was small, and no significant effect on any other type of analyzed health care was found.

Conclusions: Further research on specific populations (e.g., persons with chronic diseases such as diabetes), rather than the general population, may reveal relevant effects of HL on health care utilization measured by registered data in Austria. [HLRP: Health Literacy Research and Practice. 2023;7(4):e197-e206.].

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奥地利的健康素养和医疗保健利用。

背景：有效利用医疗保健对医疗保健系统至关重要；文献表明，健康素养（HL）在卫生服务利用中发挥着重要作用。目的：本研究旨在分析奥地利HL与医疗保健利用率之间的关系。方法：使用横断面设计分析2017年至2019年观察期1010名普通人群的注册数据，包括就诊费用、药物费用以及住院次数、天数和费用。在2020年3月至2020年5月期间，使用欧洲健康素养调查的奥地利部分，将HL测量为通用、数字和导航HL。考虑社会人口统计学变量和慢性病，采用广义线性模型进行了多变量两部分障碍回归，以研究HL与医疗保健利用率之间的关系。关键结果：导航HL对全科医生的成本产生显著的负面影响，没有对社会人口统计学变量和慢性病进行调整（b=-0.02）和调整（b=-0.01）。这种影响很小，对任何其他类型的分析医疗保健都没有发现显著影响。结论：对特定人群（如糖尿病等慢性病患者）而非普通人群的进一步研究，可能会揭示HL对奥地利注册数据测量的医疗保健利用率的相关影响。[HLRP:健康素养研究与实践.2023；7（4）：e197-e206.]。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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