Health literacy skills of kidney transplant recipients.

CONTEXT: Although low health literacy can affect patients' treatment decision making, comprehension of health information, and medication adherence, little is known about health literacy skills of kidney transplant recipients.
OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship among kidney transplant recipients' health literacy levels, transplant knowledge, and graft function.
DESIGN: Cross-sectional study of 124 adult kidney transplant recipients. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Health literacy was assessed via the Short Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (S-TOFHLA) and the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine-Transplantation (REALM-T). Data on recipients' transplant numeracy, knowledge needs, and demographics were collected via semistructured interviews. Multivariable linear regressions were used to assess the relationship between health literacy and graft function.
RESULTS: Most kidney recipients (91%) had adequate health literacy (S-TOFHLA); however, 81% were unfamiliar with at least 1 kidney transplant-related term (REALM-T). The 5 least familiar terms were sensitization (50%), urethra (45%), trough level (41%), blood urea nitrogen (32%), and toxicity (31%). Numeracy levels varied: 21% knew the likelihood of 1-year graft survival; 29% knew that half of kidney recipients have problems with the transplant in the first 6 months; 68% were aware of the risk of death within the first year after transplantation; and 86% knew the normal range for creatinine in kidney recipients. Patients with lower health literacy (REALM-T) had higher creatinine levels.
CONCLUSIONS: Transplant providers should intervene with better patient education materials to improve patients' health literacy, which may improve patients' medication adherence or transplant outcomes.