Correlations of health literacy with individuals' understanding and use of medications in Southern Taiwan.

Background: Investigated the relationship between health literacy and treatment adherence and compliance due to incorrect medication use resulting from low health literacy in southern Taiwan.

Methods: A cross-sectional study in Chiayi, Taiwan (Sep-Nov 2013) used randomized sampling to survey 300 adults. Health literacy was assessed via the test of functional health literacy in adults, and medication knowledge/behavior was assessed via a validated questionnaire (KR-20 = 0.83). Data were analyzed using SPSS (chi-square, t-tests, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation, P < 0.05).

Results: It was found that 97.9% of the respondents had adequate health literacy. Age negatively correlated with health literacy (r = -0.395; P < 0.0001) and positively with medication knowledge (r = 0.121; P = 0.038). Women exhibited higher health literacy and medication knowledge than men. Higher education levels and living with health professionals were associated with better health literacy. Patients with chronic diseases had lower health literacy than those without (mean scores: 31.5 vs 32.7). Significant correlations were observed between health literacy and treatment adherence and compliance and use.

Conclusions: Targeted health literacy interventions are required across different ages, genders, and education levels to improve medication use and health outcomes. Future research should examine the long-term effects of these interventions.