Patients’ health literacy is associated with timely diagnosis of cancer—A cross-sectional study in Denmark

Patients’ health literacy may impact differences in diagnostic delays. To investigate this potential effect, data from nearly 4000 patients with cancer and their general practitioners were collected from a population-based cross-sectional survey – the Danish National Cancer Patient survey. Investigators determined both the diagnostic interval and primary care interval for these patients and compared the length of the interval to different levels of health literacy. Overall, low health literacy was associated with a long primary care interval after ajusting for socio-economic factors. These results suggest that health literacy may interfere with the diagnostic processes in general practice. The authors suggest further research on how to manage low health literacy, including GPs’ awareness of patients’ ability to explain and respond to  changes in their body.   Read the full article here.