The effect of health literacy on knowledge and receipt of colorectal cancer screening: a survey study

BMC Primary Care

Table 1 Patient characteristics by literacy level

Patient Characteristic	Limited Literacy N (%) (n = 24)	Adequate Literacy N (%) (n = 26)	p-value*
Age, years. Mean (SD)	62.9 (10.5)	62.2 (9.2)	0.78
Gender			0.86
Female	17 (71)	19 (73)
Male	7 (29)	7 (27)
Race			0.02
African-American	18 (75)	11 (42)
Caucasian	6 (25)	15 (58)
Marital Status			0.12
Married/living together	3 (13)	8 (31)
Not married	21 (88)	18 (69)
Education Level			<0.01
< 12 years education	17 (71)	8 (31)
High school graduate	7 (29)	6 (23)
> High school graduate	0 (0)	12 (46)
Insurance Status^†			0.49
Uninsured	6 (25)	4 (15)
Medicare	11 (46)	14 (54)
Medicaid	9 (38)	14 (54)
Commercial/Military	5 (21)	6 (23)
Household Income			0.67
< $25,000	19 (79)	21 (81)
$25,000 or more	2 (8)	4 (15)
Provider Type			0.88
Physician assistant	6 (25)	7 (27)
Resident physician	8 (33)	7 (27)
Attending physician	10 (42)	12 (46)
Frequency of medical visits			0.29
< 4 visits/year	8 (33)	5 (20)
4 or more visits/year	16 (67)	20 (80)
CRC screening current ^‡			0.80
Yes	13 (54)	15 (58)
No	11 (46)	11 (42)

*A t-test for difference in means was used to compare age; all other variables were compared using Chi-Square and Fisher's Exact tests.
^† Because some patients have more than one type of insurance, percentages add to greater than 100%; p-value is for test of any insurance vs. no insurance
^‡ Current screening defined as receiving fecal occult blood testing within the last year, flexible sigmoidoscopy within the last five years, or colonoscopy within the last 10 years.

ISSN: 2731-4553