Health literacy, a new perspective for patient empowerment in the public health approach to hypertension

In their retrospective cohort of 360 hypertensive patients, Shi et al. report that the level of education, home blood pressure measurement, regular medication, and systolic blood pressure are significantly associated with health lit- eracy (HL). In this context, the Authors provide interesting evidence showing that patients with high HL had better hypertension control, a lower risk of ischemic cardiovas- cular disease, lower brachial ankle pulse wave velocity values, and better health related quality of life.