PhD Scientific Days 2023

Health Sciences II.

Health literacy among Hungarian diabetic patients

Text of the abstract

Introduction
Diabetes Mellitus is affecting every 12th person in Hungary. According to the last officially published (2014) survey of The Hungarian Diabetes Association there are772,000 patients who had taken a blood glucose-lowering drug based on data from diabetics in the OEP database. The number of diabetic patients has been increasing and approximately there are another 500,000 people who already have diabetes but haven’t been diagnosed.
Aims
The study was aimed to find out health literacy and associated factors among Hungarian adult diabetic patients, what they and their health professionals are doing to manage the disease as effectively as possible, and how awareness work in this area. Professionals and patients have not previously been asked about this issue at the same time, so only speculations could have been made about what might explain the sub-optimal cooperation of patients. The reseach among people with diabetes and the professionals involved in their treatment has revealed a number of inconsistencies and shortcomings that fundamentally hamper effective cooperation on both sides.
Methods
A complex, 3-phase research methodology, involving interviews with all relevant target groups:
1. Exploratory qualitative in- 60-90 minute depth interviews (N = 33 people)
2. Representative household survey (N people = 1000)
3. Descriptive, quantitative questionnaire survey (N patient = 1800, N healthcare experts = 202)
Result
A substantial number of diabetic patients had low health literacy due to several factors. Duration of diabetes onset and the way of how experts were communicating and behaving with patients had strong impact on diabetic health literacy.
Conclusion
Health literacy is worrying low among Hungarian diabetic patient. In their cases lifestyle treatment is at least as important as medication. It is an urgent task to address the gaps, emphasising adequate communication between health professionals and patients. The latter is crucial to the effectiveness and success of the therapy.
Fundings
The study was commissioned by CEOSZ (The National Association of Hungarian Diabetic Patient Organizations), carried out in cooperation with Szinapszis Market Research and Consulting and sponsored by pharmaceautical companies (Sanofi, Boehringer Ingelheim, Pfizer, Egis, 77 Elektronika Ltd).