ASSESSMENT OF HEALTH LITERACY IN A COHORT OF SYSTEMIC SCLEROSIS (SSC) PATIENTS

Background: SSc is a chronic, complex and very debilitating disease, involving all the aspects of physical, mental and social life. Thus, the need of a first assessment of the degree of health literacy (HL) is required to develop useful tools for SSc patients to simplify their access to health care services. HL is defined as the ability to acquire, synthesize and understand health information and services required to make decisions regarding an individual or community’s health. Objectives: to assess the HL in SSc patients. Methods: 25 SSc patients classified ACR/EULAR criteria (limited and diffuse subsets) were enrolled in September-October 2018 with the support of the local association of patients (ASSMAF). Patients have been evaluated for socio-demographic variables and the HLS-EU-Q16 questionnaire (Italian version). Results: Questions 1 to 7 (on health information) are associated with age, educational qualifications and with the number of children; while 8 to 12 (on prevention) are associated with the number of children, but also with the type of employment and marital status; finally, questions 13-16 (on health promotion) are associated with age, educational qualifications and number of children. Moreover, our results show 20% of SSc patients with an inadequate level (0-8) of HL, compared to the 12% of the general population; 40% show a problematic level (9-12) of HL lower than that found in the general population (55%), while 40% of patients show an adequate level (13-16) of HL, higher than the 33% of the general population. Conclusion: Health literacy level is an important parameter to consider and assess in SSc patients to facilitate their access to health care services and their understanding of the disease. Future researches with larger sample size are needed.