Assessing health literacy among hypertensive patients attending primary healthcare clinics at King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Background: Inadequate health literacy is associated with worse health outcomes and carries high financial burden on both patients and healthcare system. There is insufficient data about health literacy among the hypertensive patients in Saudi Arabia. The aim of this study is to measure health literacy among hypertensive patients attending the primary health care clinics at King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh (KAMC-R). Methodology: This study is a cross-sectional study that aims to identify the effect of various factors on health literacy among hypertensive patients attending the primary health care clinic at KAMC-R. Data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire shortly before the patient encountered their treating physician. The questionnaire is comprised of two parts. The first part deals with the patient's characteristics and demographic data. The second part of the questionnaire assesses health literacy utilizing the Arabic version of the Single Item Literacy Screener (SILS). Results: In this study 395 responses were obtained, of which, 55.7 % were female patients. The data were collected from 3 different centers (Health Care Specialty Center (HCSC) 39%, Iskan clinics 31% and Um-Alhamam center 30%). Of the participants, 34.2 % reported that they never needed help with reading drug leaflet and medical instructions, while 33.4 % reported always needing help, 11.9 % sometimes need help, 10.4 % usually need help and 10.1 % rarely need help. The study showed that males had higher level of good health literacy with about 64.1 %, compared with 45.1 % of females (P=0.00). The health literacy among hypertensive patients is affected proportionally by education level, monthly income, and level of exercise and affected inversely by age. Conclusion: The study showed that a high percentage of hypertensive patients had low health literacy. Those who were females, less educated, old, and patients with sedentary lifestyle are more likely to have a low level of health literacy. We recommend that physicians should confirm that their patients have full understanding of the nature of the disease, and the correct timing and dosage of medications with frequent reassessment.