TY - JOUR
T1 - The association of health literacy with time in therapeutic range for patients on warfarin therapy
AU - Oramasionwu, Christine U.
AU - Bailey, Stacy Cooper
AU - Duffey, Kristin E.
AU - Shilliday, Betsy Bryant
AU - Brown, Lori C.
AU - Denslow, Sheri A.
AU - Michalets, Elizabeth Landrum
N1 - Funding Information:
The project was supported in part by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), National Institutes of Health, through Grant Award Number 1UL1TR001111. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. This project was also supported by startup funds from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, provided to Dr. Oramasionwu.
PY - 2014/10/25
Y1 - 2014/10/25
N2 - Patients on warfarin therapy need to achieve and maintain anticoagulation control in order to experience the benefits of treatment while minimizing bleeding risk. Low health literacy skills may hinder patients' ability to use and adhere to warfarin in a safe and effective manner. The authors conducted this study to evaluate the relationship between health literacy and anticoagulation control among patients on chronic warfarin therapy. Participants were recruited from 2 diverse anticoagulation clinics in North Carolina. Time in therapeutic range (TTR) for warfarin therapy was used as a measure of anticoagulation control. Health literacy was assessed using the short form of the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (S-TOFHLA). Of the 198 study participants, 51% had limited health literacy (S-TOFHLA score of 0-90) and 33% had poor anticoagulation control (TTR <50%). Participants with limited health literacy were less likely to correctly answer warfarin-related knowledge questions. Limited health literacy was significantly associated with TTR <50% (adjusted odds ratio = 2.34, 95% CI [1.01, 5.46]). Findings indicate that limited health literacy is associated with poor anticoagulation control for patients on warfarin therapy. Lack of medication understanding may hinder the safe and effective use of this narrow therapeutic index drug.
AB - Patients on warfarin therapy need to achieve and maintain anticoagulation control in order to experience the benefits of treatment while minimizing bleeding risk. Low health literacy skills may hinder patients' ability to use and adhere to warfarin in a safe and effective manner. The authors conducted this study to evaluate the relationship between health literacy and anticoagulation control among patients on chronic warfarin therapy. Participants were recruited from 2 diverse anticoagulation clinics in North Carolina. Time in therapeutic range (TTR) for warfarin therapy was used as a measure of anticoagulation control. Health literacy was assessed using the short form of the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (S-TOFHLA). Of the 198 study participants, 51% had limited health literacy (S-TOFHLA score of 0-90) and 33% had poor anticoagulation control (TTR <50%). Participants with limited health literacy were less likely to correctly answer warfarin-related knowledge questions. Limited health literacy was significantly associated with TTR <50% (adjusted odds ratio = 2.34, 95% CI [1.01, 5.46]). Findings indicate that limited health literacy is associated with poor anticoagulation control for patients on warfarin therapy. Lack of medication understanding may hinder the safe and effective use of this narrow therapeutic index drug.
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U2 - 10.1080/10810730.2014.934934
DO - 10.1080/10810730.2014.934934
M3 - Article
C2 - 25315581
AN - SCOPUS:84908119672
VL - 19
SP - 19
EP - 28
JO - Journal of Health Communication
JF - Journal of Health Communication
SN - 1081-0730
ER -