Health Literacy and its Related Factors in Dialysis Patients: A Cross-sectional Study in Iran

Background: inadequate health literacy (hl) in dialysis patients increases the risk of poor self-care and decreases severe self-care and severe negative health outcomes in these patients. this study aimed to investigate hl and its related factors in dialysis patients in kerman, iran, in 2021.methods: this cross-sectional study was performed on 280 dialysis patients who referred to kerman (iran) dialysis centres. the participants were selected through multi-stage sampling method. the study was conducted using the iranian health literacy questionnaire (ihlq). the higher score shows a better hl.results: the mean age of the subjects was 57.75 ± 13.87 years. the mean score of hl was 9.12 ± 4.54 out of 20 points. during multivariate regression, there was a significant relationship between hl and age (β = -0.08, p = 0.02) and level of education (elementary/literacy (β = 4.607, p < 0.001), middle school (β = 6.38, p < 0.001), high school (β = 8.573, p < 0.001) and academic education (β = 9.410, p < 0.001), and there was a significant relationship between hl and eye disease (β = -0.903, p = 0.001).conclusion: most participants did not have adequate hl, while hl as the most important determinant of self-care can improve patients’ quality of life and reduce their health care costs. therefore, in order to increase self-care, planning and necessary interventions, the hl of these patients seems to be necessary.