Department of Preventive Medicine, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Veterans Medical Research Institute, Veterans Health Service Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2024 Nov;25(11):105253. doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2024.105253. Epub 2024 Sep 10.
Health literacy is considered crucial in health status outcomes, but little is known about the association among cognitively impaired persons. This study investigated the association between health literacy and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). We further examined whether the association between health literacy and HRQoL depends on age, sex, and educational attainment.
A cross-sectional study was conducted between January and December 2022.
The study population was 233 older adults with MCI who visited the Veterans Health Service Medical Center in Seoul, Republic of Korea.
The diagnosis of MCI was confirmed by a physician based on clinical and neuropsychological assessments. The European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire and EuroQol Five Dimensions Questionnaire were used to measure the health literacy and HRQoL of the participants.
HRQoL was significantly correlated with health literacy (R = 0.25, P ≤ .001) and its 3 subdomains (R = 0.27, P ≤ .001 for healthcare; R = 0.19, P = .004 for disease prevention; and R = 0.18, P = .005 for health promotion). After adjustment for potential covariates, older adults with higher levels of health literacy were significantly associated with better HRQoL: β = 0.02 (P = .0021) for health literacy, β = 0.07 (P = .0001) for healthcare, and β = 0.04 (P = .0443) for disease prevention. The interactions between HRQoL and health literacy with the specific variables of age, sex, and education demonstrated a statistical significance (β = 0.02 with age, β = 0.03 with sex, and β = 0.06 with education).
There was a significant association between health literacy and HRQoL among older adults with MCI. This finding suggests that improving health literacy of older adults with MCI may enhance HRQoL. An education intervention is recommended to reduce the existing health disparities due to low health literacy.
健康素养被认为对健康状况结果至关重要，但人们对认知障碍者之间的关联知之甚少。本研究调查了轻度认知障碍 (MCI) 老年人的健康素养与健康相关生活质量 (HRQoL) 之间的关联。我们进一步研究了健康素养与 HRQoL 之间的关联是否取决于年龄、性别和教育程度。
这是一项在 2022 年 1 月至 12 月之间进行的横断面研究。
研究人群为 233 名在韩国首尔退伍军人健康服务医疗中心就诊的 MCI 老年患者。
通过临床和神经心理学评估，由医生确认 MCI 的诊断。使用欧洲健康素养调查问卷和欧洲五维健康量表问卷来衡量参与者的健康素养和 HRQoL。
HRQoL 与健康素养显著相关（R=0.25，P≤.001），与健康素养的 3 个子领域也显著相关（R=0.27，P≤.001 用于医疗保健；R=0.19，P=.004 用于疾病预防；R=0.18，P=.005 用于健康促进）。调整潜在混杂因素后，健康素养水平较高的老年人与更好的 HRQoL 显著相关：健康素养的β值为 0.02（P=.0021），医疗保健的β值为 0.07（P=.0001），疾病预防的β值为 0.04（P=.0443）。HRQoL 与健康素养与年龄、性别和教育等特定变量之间的交互作用具有统计学意义（β=0.02 与年龄，β=0.03 与性别，β=0.06 与教育）。
在 MCI 老年人中，健康素养与 HRQoL 之间存在显著关联。这一发现表明，提高 MCI 老年人的健康素养可能会提高 HRQoL。建议进行教育干预，以减少由于健康素养低而导致的现有健康差距。
