Health Literacy Problems and its associated factors among elderly in Thailand

Abstract

This study aimed to identify the level of health literacy and factors related to inadequate
and problematic levels health literacy among elderly in Thailand. This cross-sectional
analytical study used the data set from the National Health Literacy Survey of Thailand. The
study population of this study was Thai citizen aged 60 years and older residing in all 13 zones
which consisted of 77 provinces of 4 regions in Thailand. A total of 6,477 elderly who passed
the inclusion and exclusion criteria were recruited. Multivariable analysis was performed by
including all independent variables into the model by assigning significant p-value. Our study
observed that 37.58% of elderly had problematic health literacy level (51-66 %) with 95% CI:
36.40-38.76. Our multivariate analysis revealed that factors associated with problematic and
inadequate level of health literacy were elderly having age group of ≥ 80 years (Adj.OR
2.12 ,95% CI:1.64-2.740, p-value <0.001), elderly without formal education
(Adj.OR=6.08, 95% CI: 3.80-9.73, p-value <0.001), those who can't read and write fluently
with Adj.OR 1.49 (95% CI, 1.15-1.94, p-value 0.003), (Adj.OR 1.53, 95% CI, 1.18-1.98,
p-value 0.001) respectively. Furthermore, respondents who were never had health information
acquisition from physician (Adj.OR=1.52, 95% CI, 1.32-1.74, with p-value <0.001), health
professionals (Adj.OR=1.35, 95% CI, 1.17-1.56, p-value <0.001), health volunteers workers
(Adj.OR=1.75, 95% CI, 1.50-2.03, p-value <0.001) and not using glasses or contact lens to see
(Adj.OR=1.15, 95% CI, 1.01-1.32, p-value 0.035) were significantly associated with
inadequate as well as problematic level of health literacy respectively. Nearly a quarter of the
elderly has adequate level of health literacy. Moreover, the raising age amongst the elderly was
significantly associated with inadequate health literacy level.