The Relationship between Health Literacy and Hypertension Treatment Control and Follow-up

Objectives: Hypertension is the most important controllable riskfactor for cardiovascular, stroke and kidney diseases. Acquiringhealth information and proper compliance with medical personneladvice requires high levels of health literacy. Thus, the presentstudy was conducted to determine the relationship between healthliteracy and hypertension treatment control and follow-up inpatients attending rural health centers of Rasht city.Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conductedon 257 patients with hypertension selected according to amultistage random sampling method from all rural health centersof Rasht city. Data collection tools included Short Test ofFunctional Health Literacy in Adults (STOFHLA), hypertensionknowledge, and Charlson Comorbidity Index that were completedby patients. Data were analyzed using Pearson’s correlation,regression, and Chi-square tests.Results: Participants mean age was 55.7 years and their meanhealth literacy was 68.7%. Health literacy was found significantlyrelated to education level (P<0.001), age (P<0.001), and monthlyhypertension control (P<0.001). The main sources of acquiringhealth information included doctors (38.5%), medical personnel(33.7%), and proper use of medication 94.9%.Conclusion: Patients with adequate health literacy were moresuccessful in control and treatment of their diseases. Doctors andmedical personnel were more effective in education than otherhealth information sources. Identifying patients with poor healthliteracy and providing them with appropriate education can have amajor role in promoting community health.

The Relationship between Health Literacy and Hypertension Treatment Control and Follow-up Keywords:

Health literacy , Hypertension , Treatment , Cardiovascular diseases