Table 3.

The correlations of asthma numeracy (measured by the ANQ score) and print literacy (measured by the S-TOFHLA score) with navigating ability items among 250 patients with moderate or severe asthma. For example, a patient that does not know the names of asthma medications is more likely to have low numeracy and low reading comprehension.

	ANQ†			S-TOFHLA‡
NAV2 Items	median (IQR) for NAV2 items: answered correctly	median (IQR) for NAV2 items: answered incorrectly	Unadjusted p-value	median (IQR) for NAV2 items: answered correctly	median (IQR) for NAV2 items: answered incorrectly	Unadjusted p-value
Medication and Action Plan Recall
1: asthma medication names	2.0 (1.0–3.0)	1.0 (1.0–2.0)	0.001*	35 (30–35)	26 (17–35)	0.001*
2: frequency of ICS	2.0 (1.0–3.0)	2.0 (1.0–2.0)	0.016*	35 (25–35)	33 (21–35)	0.074
3: number of ICS puffs	2.0 (1.0–3.0)	1.0 (1.0–2.0)	0.009*	35 (26–35)	34 (17–35)	0.073
4: controller vs. reliever	2.0 (1.0–3.0)	1.0 (1.0–2.0)	<0.001*	35 (32–36)	26 (14–35)	<0.001*
5: asthma action plan	2.0 (1.0–3.0)	2.0 (1.0–3.0)	0.069	35 (32–36)	34 (23–35)	0.017*
Health Insurance Requirements
6: co-pay requirements	2.0 (2.0–3.0)	1.5 (1.0–3.0)	<0.001*	35 (33–36)	32 (19–35)	<0.001*
7: co-pay amount	2.0 (1.0–3.0)	2.0 (1.0–3.0)	0.061	35 (29–36)	33 (19–35)	0.003*
8: no insurance coverage	2.0 (1.0–3.0)	1.5 (1.0–3.0)	0.059	35 (24–35)	34 (26–35)	0.197
Initial Medical Visit Preparation
9a: insurance card	2.0 (1.0–3.0)	2.0 (1.0–3.0)	0.199	35 (29–35)	34 (20–35)	0.053
9b: ID	2.0 (1.0–3.0)	2.0 (1.0–3.0)	0.168	35 (28–35)	34 (23–35)	0.132
9c: list of medications	2.0 (1.0–3.0)	2.0 (1.0–3.0)	0.003*	35 (28–35)	34 (25–35)	0.195
9d: records and/or test results	2.0 (2.0–3.0)	1.0 (1.0–3.0)	<0.001*	35 (33–36)	32 (20–35)	<0.001*
Follow-up Medical Visit Preparation
10a(1): questions	3.0 (2.0–4.0)	2.0 (1.0–3.0)	0.004*	35 (33–36)	34 (25–35)	0.093
10a(2): a list of Symptoms	3.0 (2.0–3.0)	2.0 (1.0–3.0)	0.001*	35 (34–36)	34 (21–35)	<0.001*
10a(3): know medications taken	2.0 (1.0–3.5)	2.0 (1.0–3.0)	0.053	35 (34–36)	34 (20–35)	0.002*
10a(4): list problems with Medications	2.0 (1.0–3.0)	2.0 (1.0–3.0)	0.122	34 (28–35)	34 (25–35)	0.199
10a(5): other reasonable option	2.0 (1.0–3.0)	2.0 (1.0–3.0)	0.199	35 (24–36)	34 (25–35)	0.060
Follow-up Medical Visit – Remember Details
10b(1): take notes at the visit	2.0 (1.0–3.0)	2.0 (1.0–3.0)	0.003*	35 (31–36)	33 (18–35)	<0.001*
10b(2): ask questions at the end of the visit	1.0 (1.0–3.0)	2.0 (1.0–3.0)	0.109	34 (21–36)	34 (25–35)	0.199
10b(3): look at the visit summary	2.0 (1.0–3.0)	2.0 (1.0–3.0)	0.070	35 (31–35)	34 (23–35)	0.131
10b(4): bring a family member or a friend	4.0 (2.0–4.0)	2.0 (1.0–3.0)	0.012*	36 (35–36)	34 (25–35)	0.045

IQR=interquartile range

^*Statistically significant at 0.05 level after false discovery rate adjustment of Wilcoxon rank sum p-values

^†Asthma Numeracy Questionnaire, range 0–4¹²

^‡S-TOFHLA score: range, 0–36.³⁹