Health, health behaviour and health literacy challenges among people with heart disease

What is it about?

Health literacy is a persons ability to find, understand and use health information e.g. to engage with personal healthcare providers. This article examines the associations between health literacy and health behaviour as well as experienced health status among people with heart disease. Is indicates that low health literacy is associated with poorer health behaviors including sedentary lifestyle, unhealthy diet, smoking and body mass index below or above recommended level as well as worse physical and mental health.

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Why is it important?

The results identify health literacy as a possible important factor in successful treatment and rehabilitation after heart disease onset. Since low health literacy is common among socially vulnerable groups including people with low education, low income, high age and foreign ethnicity health literacy may partly explain the social inequalities in health outcomes described among people with cardiovascular diseases. Since health literacy is a modifiable factor and changes over time and contexts the study may indicate a valuable target for future interventions and health programmes in the efforts to fight inequality in health and improve health outcomes in people with cardiovascular disease.

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