Atrial Fibrillation and you may Health Literacy
Remedy for the newest advanced problem out of atrial fibrillation (AF) concerns knowledge, decision-making, and you may much time-identity adherence. Wellness literacy is synchronised that have degree and you will socioeconomic position, and they factors is of the procedures and behavioral adherence, interaction from the periods, health-associated lifestyle, access to and you will connection with care and attention, and you can effects connected to AF (hospitalization, stroke, center incapacity, cognitive and you can real refuse).
Individuals with limited health literacy are particularly vulnerable to having a limited knowledge of AF and its treatments. In an international survey of physicians (11 countries, n=810), 46% described their patients as unable to explain what AF is and indicated that more than half of their patients needed more information about the condition. 192 In a health maintenance organization, individuals with AF and inadequate health literacy, as assessed by a 3-item screening instrument, were shown to have decreased awareness of AF (prevalence ratio, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.94–0.98). 193 Knowledge about AF was shown to be directly correlated with level of education in a single-center cohort. 194 Only <10% of those receiving care (n=183) were able to report the indication for anticoagulation; those with inadequate health literacy had a 5-fold increased risk of not understanding the indication for warfarin. 195