Introduction: Health literacy (HL) has been linked to various health outcomes among diabetics. However, there is no study exploring HL among diabetics within Malaysia.
Materials and methods: This cross-sectional study examined HL levels among Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) patients, and its association with glycaemic control.
Results: The response rate was 93.7%; whereby 289 T2DM patients from three public health clinics participated in the study between July 2018 and August 2018. 83.1% of the participants had limited HL (high likelihood of limited HL: 64.4%, adequate HL: 16.9%) and there was no association between HL and glycaemic control (P-value = 0.839). Forward logistic regression showed that limited HL was associated with age (OR 3.231; 95% CI 1.611-6.482) and education level (OR 7.290; 95% CI 3.547-14.984).
Conclusion: As our findings show, many T2DM patients have a limited HL, especially among those who are older and those who have a lower education level, diabetics should be consistently advised by using layman’s terms to improve their understanding.