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01-01-2013 | Original Research

Lower Health Literacy is Associated with Poorer Health Status and Outcomes in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Authors: Theodore A. Omachi, MD, MBA, Urmimala Sarkar, MD, MPH, Edward H. Yelin, PhD, Paul D. Blanc, MD, MSPH, Patricia P. Katz, PhD

Published in: Journal of General Internal Medicine | Issue 1/2013

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND

Limited health literacy is associated with poor outcomes in many chronic diseases, but little is known about health literacy in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

OBJECTIVE

To examine the associations between health literacy and both outcomes and health status in COPD.

PARTICIPANTS, DESIGN AND MAIN MEASURES

Structured interviews were administered to 277 subjects with self-report of physician-diagnosed COPD, recruited through US random-digit telephone dialing. Health literacy was measured with a validated three-item battery. Multivariable linear regression, controlling for sociodemographics including income and education, determined the cross-sectional associations between health literacy and COPD-related health status: COPD Severity Score, COPD Helplessness Index, and Airways Questionnaire-20R [measuring respiratory-specific health-related quality of life (HRQoL)]. Multivariable logistic regression estimated associations between health literacy and COPD-related hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) visits.

KEY RESULTS

Taking socioeconomic status into account, poorer health literacy (lowest tertile compared to highest tertile) was associated with: worse COPD severity (+2.3 points; 95 % CI 0.3–4.4); greater COPD helplessness (+3.7 points; 95 % CI 1.6–5.8); and worse respiratory-specific HRQoL (+3.5 points; 95 % CI 1.8–4.9). Poorer health literacy, also controlling for the same covariates, was associated with higher likelihood of COPD-related hospitalizations (OR = 6.6; 95 % CI 1.3–33) and COPD-related ED visits (OR = 4.7; 95 % CI 1.5–15). Analyses for trend across health literacy tertiles were statistically significant (p < 0.05) for all above outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

Independent of socioeconomic status, poor health literacy is associated with greater COPD severity, greater COPD helplessness, worse respiratory-specific HRQoL, and higher odds of COPD-related emergency health-care utilization. These results underscore that COPD patients with poor health literacy may be at particular risk for poor health-related outcomes.

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Title: Lower Health Literacy is Associated with Poorer Health Status and Outcomes in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Authors: Theodore A. Omachi, MD, MBA
Urmimala Sarkar, MD, MPH
Edward H. Yelin, PhD
Paul D. Blanc, MD, MSPH
Patricia P. Katz, PhD
Publication date: 01-01-2013
Publisher: Springer-Verlag
Published in: Journal of General Internal Medicine / Issue 1/2013
Print ISSN: 0884-8734
Electronic ISSN: 1525-1497
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-012-2177-3

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ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND

OBJECTIVE

PARTICIPANTS, DESIGN AND MAIN MEASURES

KEY RESULTS

CONCLUSIONS

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