Prevalence and demographic and clinical associations of health literacy in patients on maintenance hemodialysis.

Green JA, Mor MK, Shields AM, Sevick MA, Palevsky PM, Fine MJ, Arnold RM, Weisbord SD. Prevalence and demographic and clinical associations of health literacy in patients on maintenance hemodialysis. Clinical journal of the American Society of Nephrology : CJASN. 2011 Jun 1; 6(6):1354-60.

Related HSR&D Project(s)

• IIR 07-190 – Pain, Sexual Dysfunction and Depression in Hemodialysis Patients

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Abstract:

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Although limited health literacy is estimated to affect over 90 million Americans and is recognized as an important public health concern, there have been few studies examining this issue in patients with chronic kidney disease. We sought to characterize the prevalence of and associations of demographic and clinical characteristics with limited health literacy in patients receiving maintenance hemodialysis. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, and MEASUREMENTS: As part of a prospective clinical trial of symptom management strategies in 288 patients treated with chronic hemodialysis, we assessed health literacy using the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine (REALM). We defined limited health literacy as a REALM score 60 and evaluated independent associations of demographic and baseline clinical characteristics with limited health literacy using multivariable logistic regression. RESULTS: Of the 260 patients who completed the REALM, 41 demonstrated limited health literacy. African-American race, lower educational level, and veteran status were independently associated with limited health literacy. There was no association of limited health literacy with age, gender, serologic values, dialysis adequacy, overall symptom burden, quality of life, or depression. CONCLUSIONS: Limited health literacy is common among patients receiving chronic hemodialysis. African-American race and socioeconomic factors are strong independent predictors of limited health literacy. These findings can help inform the design and implementation of interventions to improve health literacy in the hemodialysis population.