Table 2.
Health literacy and outcomes in hypertension: Summary of findings.
| Category | Outcome | Total# of studies by study design = N (# of studies Controlling for confounding = n1; # of studies NOT controlling for confounding = n2) |
Summary of results |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studies controlling for confounding (n1) |
Studies not controlling for confounding (n2) |
||||||||
| Design | N (n1; n2) | Positive resultsa | Negative resultsb | Positive resultsa | Negative resultsb | ||||
| Clinic outcomes |
Systolic blood pressure | Cross-sectional | 4 (4; 0) | 2 | 2 | – | – | ||
| Diastolic blood pressure | Cross-sectional | 4 (4; 0) | 2 | 2 | – | – | |||
| Blood pressure control | Cross-sectional | 8 (7; 1) | 7 | 1 | – | 1 | |||
| Behavioral outcomes |
Hypertension knowledge | Cross-sectional | 5 (3; 2) | 3 | – | 2 | – | ||
| Self-efficacy | Cross-sectional | 1 (0; 1) | – | – | – | 1 | |||
| Self-care | Cross-sectional | 2 (1; 1) | – | 1 | – | 1 | |||
| Self-reported completeness of home blood pressure monitoring | Cross-sectional | 1 (1:0) | – | 1 | – | – | |||
| Compliance | Adherence to antihypertensive regiments | Cross-sectional | 1 (1; 0) | – | 1 | – | – | ||
| Medication adherence | Cross-sectional | 4 (4; 0) | 3 | 1 | – | – | |||
| Medical refill adherence | Cross-sectional | 1 (1; 0) | – | 1 | – | – | |||
| Patient- physician interaction |
Patient-physician communication | Cross-sectional | 1 (1; 0) | 1 | – | – | – | ||
| Patient trust | Cross-sectional | 1 (1; 0) | – | 1 | – | – | |||
| Involvement in decision making | Cross-sectional | 1 (1; 0) | – | 1 | – | – | |||
| Other outcomes |
identify their medications by name | Cross-sectional | 2 (2; 0) | 2 | – | – | – | ||
| Take the number of antihypertensive medication |
Cross-sectional | 1 (1; 0) | – | 1 | – | – | |||
| The agreement between self-reported and medical record-reported antihypertensive medication |
Cross-sectional | 1 (1; 0) | 1 | – | – | – | |||
| Illness perception |
Perception of personal control of hypertension |
Cross-sectional | 1 (0; 1) | – | – | 1 | – | ||
| perception that hypertension was a threatening illness |
Cross-sectional | 1 (0; 1) | – | – | – | 1 | |||
| Health status | Cross-sectional | 1 (0; 1) | – | – | – | 1 | |||
| Health quality | Cross-sectional | 2 (1:1) | 1 | – | 1 | – | |||
| Risk for ICVD | Cross-sectional | 1 (1; 0) | 1 | – | – | – | |||
| BaPWV | Cross-sectional | 1 (1; 0) | 1 | – | – | – | |||
ICVD: Ischemic Cerebral Vascular Disease.
BaPWV: brachial-ankle artery Pulse Wave Velocity.
a
Indicates that the study found a significant association between health literacy level and the outcomes.
b
Indicates that the study did not find a significant association between health literacy level and the outcomes.