Abstract
Purpose :
Health literacy (HL), defined as the ability to get, understand, and use basic health information and services, is essential for effective care delivery. Yet, over quarter of US adults are estimated to have inadequate HL, which is associated with poorer health outcomes and higher health care costs. This study aims to characterize the HL profile among comprehensive ophthalmology patients and to identify the associations with inadequate HL.
Methods :
In January 2020, routine HL assessment was integrated into the clinic intake performed by ophthalmic technicians in all comprehensive ophthalmology clinics at an academic eye institute as part of a quality improvement initiative. HL was assessed using the Brief Health Literacy Screening (BHLS), an orally-administered, validated 3-item survey with each question scored on a five-point Likert scale. A retrospective chart review of adult patients seen at all comprehensive ophthalmology clinic sites of an academic eye institute from January 2020 to October 2020 was performed. Information collected included basic demographic factors,education level, neighborhood area deprivation index, HL score, comorbid systemic diseases, and visual acuity. Patients younger than 18 years old or those with a preferred language other than English were excluded.
Results :
A total of 5313 patients met the inclusion criteria. The median age was 69 years; the majority of patients were White (85%) and Female (60%) with 51% (2,710) of the study cohort more deprived than the national median. The average best-corrected visual acuity of the best eye was 20/25. Overall, 291 (5.5%) patients had inadequate HL and 313 (5.9%) had not completed high school. Age (both younger and older age), male gender, Black race, higher deprivation index, lower education level, comorbid diabetes, and worse visual acuity were all observed to be associated with a greater likelihood of inadequate HL.
Conclusions :
Many comprehensive ophthalmology patients may still have inadequate HL despite generally higher levels of education and socioeconomic status. As many ophthalmic disease processes require chronic management, further studies should review the impact of limited HL and appropriate targeted interventions on visual outcomes.
This is a 2021 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.