Relationship between health literacy and knowledge among patients with hypertension in Isfahan province, Iran

BACKGROUND: Hypertension is usually symptomless, and is not seriously attended until it causes some chronic complications. Individuals’ skills in understanding and applying information about health subjects may have a substantial impact on patients’ behavior and health. OBJECTIVE: to determine the relationship between health literacy and knowledge among patients with hypertension in Isfahan province, Iran. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 700 patients with hypertension selected according to multistage random and quota types in Isfahan province (Iran). Data collection tools included Health Literacy for Iranian Adults (HELIA) and Hypertension Knowledge Level Scale (HK-LS), which were completed by patients. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 23 using Pearson’s correlation, one way ANOVA, and Independent-samples t-test. The significance level was set at 0.05. RESULTS: The mean (SD) of participants’ age was 60.58±11.14 years. Results showed that the relationship between age and health literacy (r=−0.354, p<0.001) and knowledge (r=−0.129, p<0.001) was statistically significant. More than three quarters of participants (75.5%) are inadequate and partially adequate of health literacy. There was a significant correlation between the blood pressure knowledge and the mean score of health literacy (r=0.0407, p<0.001). CONCLUSION: The present study confirmed that the majority of the patients with hypertension had inadequate health literacy and there was a significant correlation between the blood pressure knowledge and the mean score of health literacy. Therefore, adequate education should be provided in health centers to increase the health literacy and knowledge about hypertension in hypertensive people. So it is suggested that future studies will be conducted on the use of various educational media in hypertensive people.