A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Health Literacy in the Iranian Population: Findings and Implications

Abstract

Context: Health literacy includes social and cognitive skills determining individuals' motivation to obtain and understand health information, thus empowers them to promote healthy behaviors. The exact level of health literacy in the Iranian population is unknown, as different Iranian studies have reported different health literacy rates in the Iranian population. Objectives: Therefore, this study aimed to investigate health literacy in the Iranian population by systematically combining and analyzing findings from the previous studies. Methods: A total of 26 articles in Persian and in English, published up to December 2017 were reviewed. Searching for articles with the keywords prevalence, abundance, health literacy, and Iran was conducted in the following national and international databases: Scientific Information Database (SID), Medline, Magiran, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, PubMed, and Scopus. The data were analyzed using the meta-analysis method and a random effects model. The heterogeneity among the studies was examined using the I 2 statistic. All statistical analysis were performed using STATA version 12. Results: The highest levels of health literacy were for the region 1 of Iran, including the following provinces: Alborz, Tehran, Qazvin, Mazandaran, Semnan, Golestan, and Ghom (46.7% with 95% CI: 25.7-67.7). Moreover, pregnant women (37.4% with 95% CI: 27-53.3) had the highest level of health literacy. In contrast, older people (60.2% with 95% CI: 43.7-76.8) and patients with diabetes (55.4% with 95% CI: 35.6-75.2) had the lowest health literacy levels. Conclusions: The lowest health literacy level was in older people and patients with diabetes. Therefore, it seems necessary to provide education for communities and groups with inadequate health literacy levels, especially older people and patients with chronic diseases to improve their health.

Gender-based Inequalities in Health literacy among an Iranian Kurd Population: Results of a Community Survey

“…In the initial paper derived from the project reporting the urban-rural differences in HL and its determinants [21], we concluded that the differences found in FHL by geographic location may originate from the disparities in the number of family members, educational status, monthly income, and history of contact with the healthcare system between urban and rural areas. Previous research has also demonstrated geographic location as an effective factor on FHL [18]. Playing the role of a source for many in uential factors on FHL, geographic location seems to be a basic social determinant with great in uence on HL.…”

“…Despite such remarkable disparities in HL and its determinants, healthcare services to urban-rural populations in many MENA region countries, like Iran, are still delivered with a lack of attention in equity considerations [40]. Although some contemporary efforts are made by the Iranian government to promote general literacy within the society, there are still remarkable gender-based disparities in health and wellbeing between the urban and rural inhabitants [18]. In order to decrease such disparities, promoting the level of internet use through increasing the level of internet accessibility and internet use skills as well as HL education through social and mass media campaigns are recommended.…”

“…Although in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region countries a number of studies have been carried out to investigate HL measures [17][18][19][20], among older adults and patients with chronic diseases [18], as well as the determination of HL [21], few studies have previously investigated the contribution of different socio-demographic factors to HL, and the associations between gender and HL in the region. Also, a majority of previous studies has only investigated the associations between sociodemographic characteristics and HL.…”

Gender-based Inequalities in Health literacy among an Iranian Kurd Population: Results of a Community Survey

“…In the initial paper derived from the project reporting the urban-rural differences in health literacy and its determinants (25), we concluded that the differences found in FHL by geographic location may originate from the disparities in the number of family members, educational status, monthly income, and history of contact with the health care system between urban and rural areas. Previous research has also demonstrated geographic location as an effective factor on FHL (22). Playing the role of a source for many in uential factors on FHL, geographic location seems to be a basic social determinant with great in uence on health literacy.…”

“…Although in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region countries a number of studies have been carried out to investigate health literacy measures (20)(21)(22)(23)(24), among older adults and patients with chronic diseases (22), as well as the determination of HL (25), few studies have previously investigated the contribution of different socio-demographic factors to HL, and the associations between gender and health literacy in the region. Also, a majority of previous studies has only investigated the associations between socio-demographic characteristics and HL.…”