title: Association between comprehensive health literacy and frailty level in community-dwelling older adults: A cross-sectional study in Japan.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The present study explored the association between comprehensive health literacy and frailty level in community-dwelling older adults in Japan.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a cross-sectional study. We enrolled 517 community-dwelling older adults (mean age 73.2 ± 6.3 years; 410 women). We divided the cohort into two groups, non-frail and any-frail, based on Fried Frailty Index scores. We assessed comprehensive health literacy using a 14-item health literacy scale, and classified the participants as having high or low health literacy. We carried out multivariate logistic regression analysis in which the dependent variable was the presence of non-frailty and the independent variable was the presence of high health literacy. The analysis was adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, educational history and cognitive function.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 132 (25.5%) and 385 (74.5%) participants in the non-frail and any-frail groups, respectively. The analysis showed that high health literacy was independently associated with the non-frail group (odds ratio 1.64, 95% confidence interval 1.03-2.61).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results showed that high health literacy was associated with non-frailty. This result implies that comprehensive health literacy might play a salient role in maintaining good health status in community-dwelling older adults in Japan. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2017; 17: 804-809.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Human Health Sciences, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto.
authors.forename: Hidehiko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shirooka
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, School of Health Sciences, Tokyo University of Technology, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Shu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nishiguchi
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Human Health Sciences, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto.
authors.forename: Naoto
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Fukutani
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Human Health Sciences, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto.
authors.forename: Daiki
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Adachi
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Human Health Sciences, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto.
authors.forename: Yuto
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tashiro
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Human Health Sciences, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto.
authors.forename: Takayuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hotta
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Human Health Sciences, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto.
authors.forename: Saori
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Morino
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Human Health Sciences, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto.
authors.forename: Yuma
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nozaki
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Human Health Sciences, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto.
authors.forename: Hinako
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hirata
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Human Health Sciences, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto.
authors.forename: Moe
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yamaguchi
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Human Health Sciences, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto.
authors.forename: Tomoki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Aoyama
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D016330:Frail Elderly / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000073496:Frailty / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D057220:Health Literacy / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D057187:Independent Living / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D015995:Prevalence
keywords: Japan; community; frail elderly; health education; health literacy