A Study on Relationships between Health Literacy, Disease-related Knowledge and Compliance to Medical Recommendations in Patients with Hypertension

Purpose: To survey relationships between health literacy, disease-related knowledge and compliance to medical recommendations in patients with hypertension. Methods: The subjects were 315 patients conveniently selected from public health centers in Gangwon province. Data were collected through a questionnaire (from January 10, 2013 to February 10, 2013) and analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Duncan test and Pearson's correlation coefficient using the PASW statistics 18.0 program. Results: There were significant differences in health literacy according to age, marital status, monthly family income and education. In regard to disease-related knowledge, there were significant differences according to gender, marital status and monthly family income. There were positive correlations between health literacy and disease-related knowledge (r = .39, p = <.001), disease-related knowledge and compliance to medical recommendations (r = .28, p = <.001). However, there was no correlation between health literacy and compliance to medical recommendations. Conclusion: Health literacy and disease-related knowledge have a significantly positive correlation. Further studies are needed to confirm the effects of health literacy on chronic diseases.