title: The Impact of Health Literacy on Surgical Outcomes Following Radical Cystectomy.
abstract: Health literacy is the ability to obtain, comprehend, and act on medical information and is an independent predictor of health outcomes in patients with chronic health conditions. However, little has been reported regarding the potential association of health literacy and surgical outcomes. We hypothesized that patient complications after radical cystectomy would be associated with health literacy. In a sample of 368 patients, we found that higher health literacy scores (as determined by the Brief Health Literacy Screen) were associated with decreased odds of developing minor complications (odds ratio = 0.90, 95% confidence interval [0.83, 0.97]). Health literacy should be considered when caring for patients undergoing radical cystectomy and should serve as a potential indicator of the need for additional resources to improve postoperative outcomes.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Urologic Surgery , Vanderbilt University Medical Center , Nashville , Tennessee , USA.
authors.forename: Kristen R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Scarpato
authors.affiliation: a Department of Urologic Surgery , Vanderbilt University Medical Center , Nashville , Tennessee , USA.
authors.forename: Stephen F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Kappa
authors.affiliation: b Center for Health Services Research Vanderbilt University Medical Center , Nashville , Tennessee , USA.
authors.forename: Kathryn M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Goggins
authors.affiliation: a Department of Urologic Surgery , Vanderbilt University Medical Center , Nashville , Tennessee , USA.
authors.forename: Sam S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: a Department of Urologic Surgery , Vanderbilt University Medical Center , Nashville , Tennessee , USA.
authors.forename: Joseph A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: a Department of Urologic Surgery , Vanderbilt University Medical Center , Nashville , Tennessee , USA.
authors.forename: Peter E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.affiliation: a Department of Urologic Surgery , Vanderbilt University Medical Center , Nashville , Tennessee , USA.
authors.forename: David F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Penson
authors.affiliation: a Department of Urologic Surgery , Vanderbilt University Medical Center , Nashville , Tennessee , USA.
authors.forename: Matthew J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Resnick
authors.affiliation: a Department of Urologic Surgery , Vanderbilt University Medical Center , Nashville , Tennessee , USA.
authors.forename: Daniel A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Barocas
authors.affiliation: c Department of Surgery , Vanderbilt University Medical Center , Nashville , Tennessee , USA.
authors.forename: Kamran
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Idrees
authors.affiliation: d Department of Medicine , Vanderbilt University Medical Center , Nashville , Tennessee , USA.
authors.forename: Sunil
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kripalani
authors.affiliation: a Department of Urologic Surgery , Vanderbilt University Medical Center , Nashville , Tennessee , USA.
authors.forename: Kelvin A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Moses
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015653:Cystectomy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D057220:Health Literacy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016896:Treatment Outcome