Health literacy of adults from primary care with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Objective: To relate health literacy of adults from primary health care with type 2 diabetes mellitus and sociodemographic and clinical variables. Method: Descriptive analytical cross-sectional study with 169 participants aged 18 to 65 with type 2 diabetes mellitus, from six primary care units in the Metropolitan Region of Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil. Data collection took place from July 2023 to March 2024, and a sociodemographic and clinical questionnaire was used, as well as subscales six and nine of the Health Literacy Questionnaire, Brazilian version. Data were analyzed descriptively and using Student’s t-test, Mann-Whitney, Anova, Kruskal-Wallis, and Spearman tests. Results: Of the 169 participants, the mean age was 56.5 ± 6.2 years. There was a significant association between the ability to interact with health professionals and male gender (p = 0.057), fasting blood glucose ≤ 130 mg/dL (p = 0.033), and between education and understanding health information and knowing what to do (p = <0.001). A weak correlation was found between understanding health information and knowing what to do and education and family income (r = 0.50 and 0.35, respectively) and significant value with glycated hemoglobin (p = 0.031). Conclusion: There was a relationship between health literacy and male gender, education, family income, and glycemic values. These results can contribute to the development of educational actions aimed at strengthening health literacy.