Association of Health Literacy with the Implementation of Exercise during the Declaration of COVID-19 State of Emergency among Japanese Community-Dwelling Old-Old Adults

Health literacy is important for promoting and maintaining good health in old-old adults. It may influence the implementation of exercise in the coronavirus disease epidemic. The present cross-sectional study investigated the association of each dimension of health literacy with the implementation of exercise during the declaration of a state of emergency due to coronavirus disease in community-dwelling old-old adults. We collected data from 483 community-dwelling old-old adults (52.8% women) aged between 77 and 99 years who participated in a mail survey. Participants were divided into exercise or nonexercise groups based on the implementation of exercise during the declaration of a state of emergency. Health literacy was assessed using a 14-item health literacy scale. There were 327 (67.7%) participants in the exercise group and 156 (32.3%) in the nonexercise group. A significantly higher score of health literacy was observed in the exercise group than in the nonexercise group (communicative health literacy score = 14.0 ± 3.6 vs. 12.7 ± 3.8, p = 0.001). In a multivariate logistic regression model adjusted for potential confounders, high communicative health literacy scores were significantly associated with the implementation of exercise during the declaration of a state of emergency (odds ratio = 1.88, 95% confidence interval = 1.20–2.93). Approximately two-thirds of community-dwelling old-old adults implement exercise during the declaration of a state of emergency. High communicative health literacy was associated with the implementation of exercise during this period.