Is low health literacy associated with overweight and obesity in adolescents: an epidemiology study in a 12–16 years old population, Nanning, China, 2012

Abstract

BackgroundThe problem of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents is considered an epidemic in both developed and developing world by the WHO. There has been little study on the relationship between health literacy and body weight among adolescents.This epidemiological study aims to investigate the association between low health literacy and overweight and obesity among a population of Chinese adolescents aged 12–16 years in the city of Nanning, China in 2012.MethodsThis study was a population-based cross-sectional health survey utilising a two-stage random cluster sampling design. The sample consisted of high school students aged between 12–16 years with the total student population attending high schools in a large city as the sample frame. Health literacy was measured by the Chinese version of the short form of the Test of Functional Health Literacy translated for and validated among Taiwanese adolescents. Overweight and obesity were assessed in accordance to the recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Database of Body Mass Index classification methods. Data were analysed using logistic regression modelling techniques with adjustment to the cluster sampling effect.ResultsA total of 1035 students responded to the survey providing usable information with 628 (48.1%) respondents classified as high, 558 (42.8%) moderate, and 119 (9.1%) low levels of health literacy. After adjusting for potential confounding factors and the cluster sampling effect, low health literacy was significantly associated with overweight and obesity (OR = 1.84, 95% C.I. = 1.13-2.99).ConclusionResults suggested that low health literacy level was associated with many aspects of adolescence health including their body weight. These results have public health implications on an important global problem of adolescence body weight. Enhancing the health literacy should be considered as part of the strategies in combating adolescence weight problem.

Subjective health literacy among school-aged children

“…Moreover, there have not been many crossnational comparative studies on adolescents' HL levels, although some information has been obtained from countries or regions in various parts of the world, including Asia (Taiwan, China) and the United States. Studies focusing on functional HL have shown that up to 90% of children in Taiwan and China have a moderate or high level of HL, while 10% have low HL (Chang, 2010;Lam and Yang, 2014). In the United States the proportion of young people with "below basic" HL has been the same as in Taiwan and China (Kutner et al, 2006; see also Ghaddar et al, 2012).…”

“…Chang, 2010;Ghaddar et al, 2012;Lam and Yang, 2014;Shih et al, 2016;Sørensen et al, 2015) is difficult, since the studies in question may be measuring various constructs of HL. Previous research has shown that the tool used to measure HL has an influence on the level of HL identified (Barber et al, 2009).…”

Obesity in Adults: A Neglected Public Health Problem in Urban Areas ofKandahar City, Afghanistan

“…Probably it could means literate group are more health oriented and taking preventive measures and less likely to be obese as compare to illiterate. The health literacy and obesity are shown to have association in other studies [32]. Blood pressure was associated with obesity which shows the adult populations are suffering from different risk factors at the same time.…”

Health literacy of children and adolescents

“…Jednotlivé údaje jsou uvedeny v tabulkách 1 a 2. Z 19 analyzovaných studií bylo nejvíce amerických [6-8, 11, 12, 15-18, 20-22, 24], dále pak z Tchaj-wanu [9,10,23], z Číny [13], z Izraele [14] a Finska [19]. Evaluací zdravotní gramotnosti se v rámci 8 evropských států zabývali Pelikan et al [25], přičemž do této skupiny byli zařazeni i respondenti od 15 let.…”

“…Některé studie byly zaměřené na obecnou populaci dětí a adolescentů [7,9,10,[14][15][16][18][19][20]. Jiné směřovaly k dětem a adolescentům se specifickými zdravotními či sociálními problémy: adolescenti užívající trvale medikaci [6], adolescenti v nápravných zařízeních [8], děti a adolescenti trpící nadváhou či obezitou [11,13,22], děti trpící jakýmkoliv chronickým onemocněním [12]…”