Conditions of functional health literacy of an elderly diabetics group

cross-sectional and descriptive study, with diabetic's elderly assisted in the SUS (N = 114). The social and health conditions were evaluated as well as functional health literacy by S-TOFHLA test (short version); the simple proportions, average, standard deviation and Pearson's Chi-square were described by SPSS software (20.0) with α = 5% value.

Results:

the mean age was 67.4 years, 74.0% of the elderly were women, had up to four years of schooling; 29.8% had a long-standing illness, 64.0% reported having high blood pressure, 47.4% smoke or were smokers, 73.7% had low functional health literacy, which was associated with schooling p = 0.001.

Conclusions:

the low functional health literacy could be a self-care conditioning and can be influenced by low schooling because it implies to have skills to understand and make decisions aimed at self-management of health.

Key words:
Health Literacy; Elderly; Diabetes; Gerontological Nursing, Collective Health

Características	Functional Health Literacy*				p value*
	Total	Inadequate	Marginal	Adequate
	(N = 114)	(n = 84 )	(n = 12)	(n = 18)
	n (%)	n (%)	n (%)	n (%)
Age, average (SD)	67.4 (± 5.28)
Age group (years)
60-69		49 (58.3)	9 (75.0)	17 (94.4)	0.53
70-79		32 (38.1)	3 (25.0)	1 (5.6)
80-89		3 (3.6)	0 (0.0)	(0.0)
Gender
Female	73 (64.0)	51 (60.7)	6 (50.0)	16 (88.9)	0.44
Male	41 (36.0)	33 (39.3)	6 (50.0)	2 (11.1)	0.44
Marital status
Married	63 (55.3)	47 (56.0)	6 (50.0)	10 (55.6)
Single/Widowed/Divorced	51 (44.7)	37 (44.0)	6 (50.0)	8 (44.4)	0.92
Provenience
Belém	68 (59.6)	45 (53.6)	9 (75.0)	14 (77.8)	0.23
Out of Belém	46 (40.4)	39 (46.5)	3 (25.0)	4 (22.2)	0.23
Mensal Income
Yes	102 (89.5)	77 (91.7)	10 (83.3)	15 (83.3)	0.44
No	12 (10.5)	7(8.3)	2 (16.7)	3 (16.7)	0.44
Schooling (years)
1 a 4	71 (62.3)	59 (70.2)	6 (50.0)	6 (50.0)	0.00
5 a 8	30 (26.3)	22 (26.2)	5 (41.7)	3 (16.7)
+ de 9	13 (11.4)	3 (3.6)	1 (8.3)	9 (50.0)
Understanding and health guidelines
Yes	80 (70.2)	57 (67.9)	8 (66.7)	15 (83.3)	0.06
Sometimes	32 (28.1)	27 (32.1)	3 (25.0)	2 (11.1)
No	2 (1.7)	0 (0.0)	1 (8.3)	1 (5.6)
Reading Habit
Yes	58 (50.9)	35 (41.7)	9 (75.0)	14 (77.8)	0.01
Sometimes	42 (36.8)	35 (41.7)	3 (25.0)	4 (22.2)
No	14 (12.3)	14 (16.7)	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)

Health conditions	Functional Health Literacy^* * Applied Test χ2; p value ≤ 0,05				p^* * Applied Test χ2; p value ≤ 0,05 value
	Total	Inadequate	Marginal	Adequate
	(N = 114)	(n = 84 )	(n = 12)	(n = 18)
	n	n (%)	n (%)	n (%)
Associated comorbidities
None	17	16 (19.0)	1 (8.3)	0 (0.0)	0.65
Hypertension	73	51 (60.7)	8 (66.7)	14 (77.8)
Joint pain	10	6 (7.1)	2 (16.7)	2 (11.0)
Osteoporosis	9	7 (8.3)	1 (8.3)	1 (5.6)
Heart diseases	2	2 (2.4)	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)
Others	3	2 (2.4)	0 (0.0)	1 (5.6)
Complications from diabetes
None	75	52 (61.9)	6 (50.0)	17 (94.4)	0.01
Visual	19	16 (19.0)	2 (16.7)	1 (5.6)
Renal	12	11 (13.1)	1 (8.3)	0 (0.0)
Plant sensibility	4	3 (3.6)	1 (8.3)	0 (0.0)
Amputation of limbs	2	2 (2.4)	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)
Plantar ulcer	1	0 (0.0)	1 (8.3)	0 (0.0)
Associated complications	1	0 (0.0)	1 (8.3)	0 (0.0)
Smoking or Ex-Smoker
No	59	43 (51.2)	5 (41.7)	11 (61.1)	0.56
Yes	55	41 (48.8)	7 (58.3)	7 (38.9)	0.56
Alcohol Consumption
No	94	72 (85.7)	9(75.0)	13 (72.2)	0.30
Yes	20	12 (14.3)	3 (25.0)	5 (27.8)	0.30

Functional Health Literacy	f	%
Inadequate	84	73.7
Marginal	12	10.5
Adequate	18	15.8
Total	114	100.0

Numerical Literacy	f	%
Hit the four questions	60	52.6
It hit from 2 to questions 3	53	46.5
Do not hit any question	1	0.9
Total	114	100.00

Associação Brasileira de Enfermagem SGA Norte Quadra 603 Conj. "B" - Av. L2 Norte 70830-102 Brasília, DF, Brasil, Tel.: (55 61) 3226-0653, Fax: (55 61) 3225-4473 - Brasília - DF - Brazil
E-mail: reben@abennacional.org.br

Acompanhe os números deste periódico no seu leitor de RSS

[1] CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: Maria Izabel Penha de Oliveira Santos. E-mail: princesa50@hotmail.com