Table 5.
Health literacy according to the subject-perceived health status
| Overall | Health literacy | P a | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inadequate/problematic | Sufficient | |||
| (N = 2433) | (N = 374) | (N = 2059) | ||
| BMI (Kg/m2), mean (SD) | 25.5 (4.5) | 26.2 (5.1) | 25.1 (4.3) | < 0.001 |
| Obesity | ||||
| Underweight (< 18.5) | 67 (2.8) | 10 (2.7) | 57 (2.8) | < 0.001 |
| Normal Weight (≥18.5 a < 25) | 1213 (50.2) | 155 (42.2) | 1058 (51.6) | |
| Overweight (≥25 a < 30) | 809 (33.5) | 128 (34.9) | 681 (33.2) | |
| Obese (≥30) | 329 (13.6) | 74 (20.2) | 255 (12.4) | |
| Perceived general health | ||||
| Good health | 2029 (83.4) | 259 (69.3) | 1770 (86.0) | < 0.001 |
| Bad health | 404 (16.6) | 115 (30.7) | 289 (14.0) | |
| Visits to the healthcare professional | ||||
| Family doctor | 1797 (73.9) | 306 (81.8) | 1491 (72.4) | < 0.001 |
| Sexual and reproductive healthcare professional | 553 (45.3) | 61 (29.9) | 492 (48.4) | < 0.001 |
| Mental health professional | 432 (17.8) | 87 (23.3) | 345 (16.8) | 0.002 |
| Other specialists | 1613 (66.3) | 236 (63.1) | 1377 (66.9) | 0.155 |
| Nurse | 302 (12.4) | 74 (19.8) | 228 (11.1) | < 0.001 |
| Social worker | 30 (1.2) | 14 (3.7) | 16 (0.8) | < 0.001 |
| Pharmacists and other community health agents | 489 (20.1) | 54 (14.4) | 435 (21.1) | 0.003 |
| Medical consultation last year (at least once) | 2182 (89.7) | 340 (90.9) | 1842 (89.5) | 0.397 |
| Self-perceived chronic disorder | 958 (39.4) | 210 (56.1) | 748 (36.3) | < 0.001 |
| Comorbidities | 1802 (74.1) | 313 (83.7) | 1489 (72.3) | < 0.001 |
| Mental health disorders | 385 (15.8) | 83 (22.2) | 302 (14.7) | < 0.001 |
| Physical limitation to perform everyday activities | ||||
| Yes, severely limited | 51 (2.1) | 23 (6.1) | 28 (1.4) | < 0.001 |
| Yes, limited but not severely | 183 (7.5) | 56 (15.0) | 127 (6.2) | |
| Not limited | 2199 (90.4) | 295 (78.9) | 1904 (92.5) | |
BMI body mass index
a Differences between inadequate/problematic and sufficient HL, assessed with Chi-square tests