Atrial Fibrillation and you will Health Literacy
Remedy for the newest complex syndrome out-of atrial fibrillation (AF) pertains to training, decision making, and much time-term adherence. Fitness literacy try correlated with knowledge and you may socioeconomic position, and these circumstances is generally regarding the procedures and you may behavioural adherence, interaction about episodes, health-relevant well being, access to and exposure to worry, and you can consequences strongly related AF (hospitalization, heart attack, center incapacity, cognitive and you may 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