Abstract
Background: Health literacy (HL) is a risk factor for adverse outcomes in patients with cardiovascular disease, and shorter pre-hospital delay time is crucial for successful treatment of acute myocardial infraction (AMI) patients. Most previous studies focused on the influencing factors of pre-hospital delay but ignore the essential contribution of decision delay.Aims: Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the effect of HL on decision delay.Methods: Continuously included AMI patients admitted to a grade A class three hospital in Chongqing. HL level was assessed using Brief Health Literacy Screen and categorized as adequate or inadequate. Mann-Whitney U-test and Chi-square test were used to compare the differences between groups, and binary logistic regression was used to analyze the association between HL and decision delay.Results: A total of 217 AMI patients were enrolled in this study, including 166 males (76.5%) and 51 females (23.5%), with the median age was 68 years old; 135 (62.2%) patients had delayed decision-making while 82 (37.8%) did not; 157 (72.7%) patients had inadequate HL and 59 (27.3%) had adequate HL. The total HL score of non-delayed group was higher than that in delayed group (9.22 vs. 7.02, P < 0.000).Conclusion: After adjusting for covariates, HL was significantly negatively associated with decision time. AMI patients with inadequate HL were more likely to delay seeking timely medical care.
Highlights
Cardiovascular Diseases (CVDs) are important factors endangering people’s health worldwide, mainly including coronary artery disease (CAD), hypertension, and chronic heart failure (HF) [1]
A total of 217 acute myocardial infraction (AMI) patients were enrolled in this study, including 166 males (76.5%) and 51 females (23.5%), with the median age was 68 years old; 135 (62.2%) patients had delayed decision-making while 82 (37.8%) did not; 157 (72.7%) patients had inadequate Health literacy (HL) and 59 (27.3%) had adequate HL
After adjusting for covariates, HL was significantly negatively associated with decision time
Summary
Cardiovascular Diseases (CVDs) are important factors endangering people’s health worldwide, mainly including coronary artery disease (CAD), hypertension, and chronic heart failure (HF) [1]. The prevalence and mortality of CAD have declined in recent years, it is still the leading cause of death in the United States [3]. The prevalence of CVDs in China is not optimistic. It is estimated that there are 330 million people suffering from CVDs, including 11 million cases of CAD and 5 million cases of HF. Two out of every five deaths are due to CVDs [4]. Health literacy (HL) is a risk factor for adverse outcomes in patients with cardiovascular disease, and shorter pre-hospital delay time is crucial for successful treatment of acute myocardial infraction (AMI) patients. Most previous studies focused on the influencing factors of pre-hospital delay but ignore the essential contribution of decision delay
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