Diabetes and Health Literacy
A new Kaiser Permanente and UCSF study found that people with diabetes who have limited health literacy are at higher risk for hypoglycemia or low blood sugar. Limited health literacy were defined by the research team as patients reporting difficulties reading health-related materials.
Researchers surveyed more than 14,000 adults with diabetes who are part of the Diabetes Study of Northern California (DISTANCE), making it the largest observational study to assess significant hypoglycemia in the United States.
The findings include:
- 11 percent of the respondents experienced hypoglycemia requiring assistance in the past 12 months, much higher than expected from prior clinical trials.
- 59 percent of those taking insulin had significant hypoglycemia that required assistance.
- Patients commonly reported limited health literacy: 53 percent reported problems learning about health, 40 percent needed help reading health materials, and 32 percent were not confident filling out medical forms by themselves.
- Respondents with limited health literacy were 30-40 percent more likely to experience hypoglycemia compared to those with adequate health literacy.
The study findings were published online in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
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