Functional health literacy in hypertensive elders at primary health care

• Main Authors: Victor Roberto Santos Costa (Author), Polyana D'arc Rezende Costa (Author), Eduardo Yoshio Nakano (Author), Daniel Apolinário (Author), Alfredo Nicodemos Cruz Santana (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: Associação Brasileira de Enfermagem, 2019-12-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.
• Notes: 1984-0446; 10.1590/0034-7167-2018-0897
• Keywords: Health Literacy; Aged; Primary Health Care; Health Vulnerability; Nursing; RT1-120
• Source: Revista Brasileira de Enfermagem, Vol 72, Iss suppl 2, Pp 266-273 (2019)

ABSTRACT Objective: to assess the relationship between inadequate functional health literacy and inadequate blood pressure control in older people with hypertension in Primary Health Care. Method: a cross-sectional study with sample calculated at 392. SAHLPA-18 tool was used for functional health literacy; blood pressure was measured; sociodemographic and clinical data were collected. Hierarchical logistic regression was used. Results: (high) inadequate blood pressure and (low) functional inadequate health literacy were present in 41.6% and 54.6% of the people, respectively. Factors associated with inadequate blood pressure were: inadequate functional health literacy, black-brown skin color, overweight-obesity, hypertension diagnosis time, non-adherence to exercise/diet, drug treatment. Schooling had no association with inadequate blood pressure Conclusion: hypertensive elderly people with inadequate health literacy were more likely to have inadequate blood pressure. Thus, health professionals need to value functional health literacy as a possible component to control blood pressure.