HEALTH LITERACY LEVEL IN MEN OF WORKING AGE IN THE CITY OF YAKUTSK
Authors:   North-Eastern Federal University inYakutsk, Yakutsk, Russian Federation, Golderova Aitalina , Savvina Nadezhda ,   North-Eastern Federal University inYakutsk, Yakutsk, Russian Federation, Tyulyush Bayana ,   North-Eastern Federal University inYakutsk, Yakutsk, Russian Federation
Published: January 2024

Significance. Numerous studies show an association between low levels of health literacy and poor health. The HLS-EU-Q questionnaire is the most comprehensive one for a complex analysis of health literacy on population. Men are one of the most vulnerable groups in terms of health. The purpose of the study was to assess the level of health literacy among working-age men in Yakutsk. Material and methods. The study used an adapted version of the European questionnaire HLS19 with 47 questions (HLS-EU-Q47). 100 men in Yakutsk were interviewed. For each respondent, the index of general health literacy was calculated using the formula: Index = (mean - 1) x (50/3), where mean is the arithmetic mean of answers to all questions for each respondent, 1 is the minimum possible value of the arithmetic mean (minimum value index-0), 3 is the range of the arithmetic, 50 is the maximum value of the health literacy index. The data were statistically processed using the IBM SPSS Statistics 23. Results. The vast majority of the interviewed men have a problematic level of health literacy (mean value 28.18 ± 4.1). Some respondents found it difficult to answer some questions (up to 31%). The analysis revealed the main significant factors affecting the level of health literacy: 1) age (the maximum value of the index is registered in the age group of 30-39 years, the minimum - at the age of 50-60 years (p=0.046)); 2) marital status (for married men, the indicator is higher than for divorced or widowed men (p=0.000); 3) education (in men with higher education, the index was statistically significantly (p=0.031) higher than in those with secondary specialized education); 4) health groups based on the results of a regular medical examination (the index is significantly higher (p=0.034) in healthy men (group I) than those with chronic non-communicable diseases (group IIIa)); 5) ICD-11 (in the group of apparently healthy individuals, the index is significantly higher (p=0.034) than in individuals with diseases of the endocrine system). Significant correlations were found: with marital status (r=0.258; p=0.010), with the level of education (r=0.257; p=0.010), with health groups based on results of a regular medical examination (r=-0.233; p=0.019) and age (r= -0.206; p=0.039), which, in general, are consistent with data from foreign and Russian studies. Conclusion. The index of general health literacy among randomly selected 100 men of working age in Yakutsk turned out to be insufficient, perhaps due to the high percentage (up to 31%) of some questions that caused difficulties. The results of the analysis indicate that the level of health literacy is influenced by marital status, education, health status based on results of a regular medical examination and age, which is consistent with data from other studies.