Role of Health Literacy in Self-Reported Musculoskeletal Disorders.

Catherine L Hill,Sarah L Appleton,Robert J Adams,Elizabeth Hoon,Julie Black,Rima E Rudd,Tiffany Gill

doi:10.1155/2015/607472

Abstract

Self-report of musculoskeletal conditions is often used to estimate population prevalence and to determine disease burden and influence policy. However, self-report of certain musculoskeletal conditions is frequently inaccurate, suggesting inadequate communication to the patient of their diagnosis. The aim of this study is to determine the association between functional health literacy (FHL) and self-reported musculoskeletal conditions in a representative population survey. FHL was measured using Newest Vital Sign in 2824 randomly selected adults. Participants also self-reported medically diagnosed arthritis, gout, and osteoporosis. Multiple logistic regression was adjusted for age and sex. The prevalence of self-reported arthritis, gout, and osteoporosis was 25.2%, 4.9%, and 5.6%, respectively. The prevalence of those at risk for inadequate FHL was 24.0% and high likelihood of inadequate FHL was 21.0%. However, over 50% of respondents with arthritis or gout had at risk/inadequate FHL, increasing to 70% of those self-reporting osteoporosis. After adjustment for age and sex, respondents in the arthritis subgroup of “don't know” and self-reported osteoporosis were significantly more likely to have inadequate FHL than the general population. This study indicates a substantial burden of low health literacy amongst people with musculoskeletal disease. This has implications for provider-patient communication, individual healthcare, population estimates of musculoskeletal disease, and impact of public health messages.

Highlights

Chronic disease management requires that patients regularly undertake multiple tasks that involve sophisticated literacy skills, speaking and listening skills in the clinical encounter, numeracy skills for calibrating medicine dosage and timing, and reading skills for understandings issues, directions, and plans
Over 50% of respondents with arthritis or gout had at risk or inadequate Functional health literacy (FHL) which increased to 70% of those diagnosed with osteoporosis
Among those diagnosed with arthritis, those who did not know which subtype of arthritis they had were more likely to have low FHL than people in the other subgroups of arthritis (Table 2)

Summary

Introduction

Chronic disease management requires that patients regularly undertake multiple tasks that involve sophisticated literacy skills, speaking and listening skills in the clinical encounter, numeracy skills for calibrating medicine dosage and timing, and reading skills for understandings issues, directions, and plans. Correct knowledge of disease has important implications in terms of self-management of these disorders. The plethora of information more widely available to the public in print and online makes correct knowledge of diagnosis and disease entity critically important. Links between literacy skills of patients and health outcomes, especially related to chronic disease, are well established [1]. Functional health literacy (FHL) involves the ability to read, calculate, and act on oral and written information in healthcare settings [2]. It has been described as the “final neglected pathway to high-quality healthcare” [2].

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion