Health Literacy and Kidney Disease: Toward a New Line of Research

Radhika Devraj*, Elisa J. Gordon

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

77 Scopus citations

Abstract

Health literacy has been recognized as an important public health issue over the past decade. Low health literacy is a widespread problem in the general population, affecting over 90 million Americans. A growing body of research has demonstrated the association between low health literacy and worse health outcomes in a variety of chronic conditions. Despite the increasing prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and the considerable interest in health literacy, there has been limited research examining the role of health literacy in individuals at all stages of CKD. This article examines the role of health literacy in kidney disease by reviewing early research on the topic, providing a conceptual model of the relationship between health literacy and health outcomes, and highlighting potential areas for future research on health literacy in CKD.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)884-889
Number of pages6
JournalAmerican Journal of Kidney Diseases
Volume53
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2009

Funding

Support: Dr Gordon is supported by Career Development Award DK063953 from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Nephrology

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