Effect of high health literacy and the frequency of social activities on preventing disability

Ayuka Kawakami; Kouki Tomida; Takahiro Shimoda; Chika Nakajima; Hiroyuki Shimada

doi:10.1016/j.gerinurse.2024.12.014

Effect of high health literacy and the frequency of social activities on preventing disability

Geriatr Nurs. 2024 Dec 31:61:526-531. doi: 10.1016/j.gerinurse.2024.12.014. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Ayuka Kawakami¹, Kouki Tomida², Takahiro Shimoda², Chika Nakajima², Hiroyuki Shimada²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Preventive Gerontology Center for Gerontology and Social Science, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Obu, Aichi, Japan. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Department of Preventive Gerontology Center for Gerontology and Social Science, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Obu, Aichi, Japan.

PMID: 39742540
DOI: 10.1016/j.gerinurse.2024.12.014

Abstract

Objective: This longitudinal study aimed to identify the impact of high health literacy (HL) and participation in more social activities (SA) on preventing the risk of disability among community-dwelling older adults.

Methods: Participants were 3,486 community-dwelling older adults who underwent functional health examinations. Participants were classified into four groups based on High (Low) HL and High (Low) SA. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to assess the risk of disability over five years among the four groups.

Results: During follow-up, 339 patients with disabilities were observed. In the Cox proportional hazards analysis, only High HL and High SA groups were significantly associated with a lower hazard ratio (HR) for disability onset (HR = 0.71, 95% confidence interval = 0.51-0.99).

Conclusions: In community-dwelling older adults, high HL and increased SA effectively reduced the risk of disability compared to low HL and low SA.

Keywords: Health literacy; Incident disability; Social activity.