Table 1. Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics: comparison between groups with sufficient and insufficient knowledge.
| Characteristics | Total sample | Sufficient knowledge | Insufficient knowledge | p value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (n=129) | (n=42) | (n=87) | ||
| Age, years | 75.9 (6.2) | 75 (6.9) | 76.4 (5.8) | 0.230* |
| Sex, female | 90 (69.8) | 26 (61.9) | 64 (73.6) | 0.177† |
| Race, White | 61 (47.3) | 18 (42.9) | 43 (49.4) | 0.484† |
| Schooling, years | 5.2 (4.4) | 6.6 (5.1) | 4.5 (3.8) | 0.011* |
| Socioeconomic class (CCEB) | 20 (6.2) | 20.4 (5.8) | 19.7 (6.4) | 0.539* |
| Blue-collar worker | 62 (48.1) | 18 (42.8) | 44 (50.6) | 0.411† |
| Marital status, married | 42 (32.6) | 16 (38.1) | 26 (29.9) | 0.351† |
| Help with medication | 22 (17.1) | 8 (19.1) | 14 (16.1) | 0.676† |
| Symptoms of depression (GDS-15) | 3.4 (2.7) | 2.8 (2.4) | 3.6 (2.8) | 0.113* |
| Use of Insulin | 41 (31.8) | 20 (47.6) | 21 (24.1) | 0.007† |
| Duration of diabetes. years | 12.8 (9.1) | 16.5 (8.8) | 11.1 (8.7) | 0.001* |
| Health literacy (SAHLPA-18) | 12.1 (5.3) | 13.7 (4.8) | 11.34 (5.4) | 0.01* |
| HbA1c | 7.2 (1.4) | 7.5 (1.4) | 7.08 (1.4) | 0.073* |
*Student´s t test for independent samples comparing sufficient and insufficient knowledge; † χ2 test comparing adequate and inadequate knowledge. Adequate knowledge corresponded to Spoken Knowledge in Low Literacy Patients with Diabetes >50%; inadequate knowledge to Spoken Knowledge in Low Literacy Patients with Diabetes ≤50%. Results expressed in n (%) or mean (± standard deviation). CCEB: Critério de Classificação Econômica Brasil; SAHLPA-18: Short Assessment of Health Literacy for Portuguese-speaking Adults-18; GDS-15: Geriatric Depression Scale with 15 questions; HbA1c: glycosylated hemoglobin.