The impact of health literacy and life style risk factors on health-related quality of life of Australian patients

Table 1 Distribution of health literacy according to patient and practice characteristics for 726 patients

Variable (definition)	Health literacy
	Low (n = 351)		High (n = 375)		p-value*
	Number	%	Number	%
Characteristics of patients
Gender (n = 726)
Male	115	32.8	106	28.3	0.188
Female	236	67.2	269	71.7
Age, years (n = 725)
40–54	177	50.4	141	37.7	0.001
55–70	174	49.6	233	62.3
Place of birth (n = 726)
Australia	261	74.4	283	75.7	0.731
Outside Australia	90	25.6	92	24.5
Home ownership (n = 726)
Owner occupied	308	87.7	347	92.5	0.030
Rented	43	12.3	28	7.5
Education (n = 717)
Degree/Diploma	187	54.0	179	48.2	0.121
Elementary/High school	159	46.0	192	51.8
Employment (n = 719)
Employed	241	69.7	234	62.7	0.003
Retired	50	14.5	91	24.4
Unemployed^a	55	15.9	48	12.9
Patient risk factors
Smoker (n = 721)
Yes	40	11.5	21	5.6	0.005
No	309	88.5	351	94.4
Poor diet (n = 726)
Yes	292	83.2	293	78.1	0.085
No	59	16.8	82	21.9
Alcohol risk (n = 721)
Yes	24	6.9	16	4.3	0.131
No	325	93.1	356	95.7
Insufficient physical activity (n = 715)
Yes	217	62.7	175	47.4	<0.001
No	129	37.3	194	52.6
Overweight (n = 696)
Yes	224	67.5	188	51.6	<0.001
No	108	32.5	176	48.4
Practice characteristics
Practice size (n = 726)
Small practice (1–3 GPs) (N* = 10)	129	36.8	119	31.7	0.154
Large practice (>3 GPs) (N* = 20)	222	63.2	256	68.3
Number of nurses (n = 726)
0–1 (N* = 14)	184	52.4	181	48.3	0.263
>1 (N* = 16)	167	47.6	194	51.7

*p-values are for comparison of categories of each variable by health literacy using Pearson’s chi-square test
^aIncludes patients looking for work, studying full-time, looking after family and unable to work due to sickness or disability
N* = number of practices

ISSN: 1477-7525