Associations between health literacy and health care utilization and mortality in patients with coexisting diabetes and end-stage renal disease: A prospective cohort study.

Conclusions Health literacy skills related to Actively Managing My Health predict hospitalization and mortality independently of other risk factors. The HLQ provides an assessement of novel health literacy parameters which offer new insights into patients' status and behaviours and may strengthen interventions to improve clinical services, and patient outcomes in DM-ESRD. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Patients with diabetes (DM) comprise the fastest growing segment of patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Health literacy (HL) is pivotal for managing the complex treatment guidelines for DM-ESRD. Most prior work on HL focused on functional HL and shown significant associations with mortality and hospitalization. Limited research has investigated wider HL skills in relation to clinical outcomes. What does this study add? Supporting patients in Actively Managing my health liteacy skills is critical in decreasing probability of hospitalization and morbidity. The presence of symptoms of depression is associated with longer hospitalization period. PMID: 32304286 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: British Journal of Health Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Br J Health Psychol Source Type: research