TY - JOUR
T1 - Low health literacy and perceived stress in adults
T2 - is there a link?
AU - Michou, Maria
AU - Panagiotakos, Demosthenes B.
AU - Lionis, Christos
AU - Costarelli, Vassiliki
N1 - Funding Information:
and Innovation (HFRI) and the General Secretariat for Research and Technology (GSRT), under the HFRI PhD Fellowship grant (GA. no. 949).
Funding Information:
Τhe research work was supported by the Hellenic Foundation for Research
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, Czech National Institute of Public Health. All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/9/1
Y1 - 2021/9/1
N2 - OBJECTIVES: Mental stress, low health literacy (HL) and nutrition literacy (NL) are associated with serious negative health outcomes. The aim of this study was to investigate HL and NL levels, in relation to levels of perceived stress, in adults. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the urban area of the Attica region, Greece. The sample consisted of 1,281 individuals, aged ≥ 18 years. The European Health Literacy Questionnaire 47, the Greek version of the Nutrition Literacy Scale and the Perceived Stress Scale 14 were used. Socio-demographic characteristics were also assessed. Nonparametric Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests, Pearson chi-square and multiple linear regression models were used. RESULTS: The sample's perceived stress mean value (SD) was 26.47 (7.27) with women scoring statistically significantly higher than men. The mean HL and NL scores were 32.28 (8.28) and 22.11 (5.67), respectively. Linear regression analysis has shown that perceived stress was significantly negatively associated with HL (p < 0.001) but not with NL levels (p = 0.675) after adjusting for a series of confounding variables. CONCLUSIONS: Low health literacy seems to be very significantly associated with high levels of perceived stress. The reasons behind this association require further investigation.
AB - OBJECTIVES: Mental stress, low health literacy (HL) and nutrition literacy (NL) are associated with serious negative health outcomes. The aim of this study was to investigate HL and NL levels, in relation to levels of perceived stress, in adults. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the urban area of the Attica region, Greece. The sample consisted of 1,281 individuals, aged ≥ 18 years. The European Health Literacy Questionnaire 47, the Greek version of the Nutrition Literacy Scale and the Perceived Stress Scale 14 were used. Socio-demographic characteristics were also assessed. Nonparametric Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests, Pearson chi-square and multiple linear regression models were used. RESULTS: The sample's perceived stress mean value (SD) was 26.47 (7.27) with women scoring statistically significantly higher than men. The mean HL and NL scores were 32.28 (8.28) and 22.11 (5.67), respectively. Linear regression analysis has shown that perceived stress was significantly negatively associated with HL (p < 0.001) but not with NL levels (p = 0.675) after adjusting for a series of confounding variables. CONCLUSIONS: Low health literacy seems to be very significantly associated with high levels of perceived stress. The reasons behind this association require further investigation.
KW - Greece
KW - health literacy
KW - nutrition literacy
KW - perceived stress
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85118286401&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.21101/cejph.a6692
DO - 10.21101/cejph.a6692
M3 - Article
C2 - 34623119
AN - SCOPUS:85118286401
SN - 1210-7778
VL - 29
SP - 195
EP - 200
JO - Central European Journal of Public Health
JF - Central European Journal of Public Health
IS - 3
ER -
