A new study states that around one in every six patients are not so much acquainted with health information, and this could in turn affect their health regime. For the purpose of the study, 260 dialysis patients were enrolled and during the course of the study it was found that 41 patients (16 percent) were health illiterate. According to researchers, health literacy is the ability to obtain, process and understand health information in order to make appropriate health decisions.
The study which got published in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, emphasized that health literacy is of utmost importance for the well-being of the person.
Dr Jamie Green from the University of Pittsburgh informs that certain individuals have more tendency of having low health literacy. He states individuals who do not have even high school education are likely to have more than 12 fold increased risk of health illiteracy. He also adds that blacks and veterans have more than threefold increased risk.
The researchers state that when compared to other patients, dialysis patients require health literacy additionally. This could be attributed to the fact that they need to undergo many treatment sessions every other week. Apart from this, they also need to follow a certain diet suitable for their health condition and follow complex medication regimes.
"We anticipate our findings will increase awareness of the importance of health literacy in patients with kidney disease, stimulate providers to consider health literacy when communicating with patients, and lead to future studies to address limitations in health literacy," said Dr Green.
The study was carried out to assess the relation between less health literacy and its significant impact on following dialysis treatment. The researchers wanted to find out if less knowledge about health would hinder the process of dialysis and follow up medications.
