Table 2.
Distribution of patient questions overall and by health literacy level
| Questions | All patients | Health literacy | p Value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Limited | Adequate | Mean difference (95% CI) | |||
| Total questions asked, mean ± SD | 7.8 ± 6.5 | 4.9 ± 3.7 | 8.8 ± 7.0 | −3.9 (−7.0 to −0.78) | 0.002 |
| Category, mean ± SD | |||||
| Therapeutic regimen | 2.6 ± 3.3 | 1.0 ± 1.5 | 3.2 ± 3.6 | −2.2 (−3.8 to −0.62) | < 0.001 |
| Medical condition | 2.7 ± 2.9 | 1.7 ± 2.0 | 3.1 ± 3.1 | −1.4 (−2.8 to 0.010) | 0.022 |
| Lifestyle | 0.13 ± 0.43 | 0.18 ± 0.50 | 0.11 ± 0.41 | 0.070 (−0.15 to 0.29) | 0.53 |
| Requests for services or medications | 0.17 ± 0.43 | 0.14 ± 0.35 | 0.18 ± 0.46 | −0.040 (−0.25 to 0.17) | 0.71 |
| Psychosocial/feelings | 0.10 ± 0.33 | 0.050 ± 0.21 | 0.11 ± 0.37 | −0.060 (−0.23 to 0.11) | 0.42 |
| Nonmedical/procedural | 0.94 ± 1.7 | 0.73 ± 1.1 | 1.0 ± 1.9 | −0.27 (−0.99 to 0.45) | 0.50 |
| Asks for understanding | 0.020 ± 0.15 | 0 | 0.030 ± 0.18 | −0.030 (−0.11 to 0.047) | 0.40 |
| Asks for reassurance | 0.26 ± 0.56 | 0.14 ± 0.35 | 0.31 ± 0.62 | −0.17 (−0.45 to 0.11) | 0.23 |
| Paraphrase/checks for understanding | 0.52 ± 0.81 | 0.55 ± 0.60 | 0.52 ± 0.88 | 0.030 (−0.37 to 0.43) | 0.89 |
| Bid for repetition | 0.13 ± 0.37 | 0.23 ± 0.43 | 0.10 ± 0.35 | 0.13 (−0.054 to 0.31) | 0.16 |
| Personal remarks/social conversation | 0.18 ± 0.42 | 0.18 ± 0.50 | 0.18 ± 0.39 | 0 (−0.21 to 0.21) | 0.97 |
| Medical composite* | 5.5 ± 5.0 | 3.0 ± 2.9 | 6.4 ± 5.3 | −3.4 (−5.8 to −1.0) | < 0.001 |
*Includes therapeutic regimen, medical condition, lifestyle, and requests for services or medications.