Health Literacy: Key to Self-Care in Diabetes

Introduction: Health literacy is a fundamental tool for improving patients self-care, so this study evaluated the association between health literacy and self-care in patients with hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Method: Cross-sectional observational study of 200 patients at Hospital Florencia de Mora (June–November 2024), using the Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire (HLS-Q12), Diabetes Self-Management Questionnaire, and Self-Care of Hypertension Inventory. Parametric tests (t-test, ANOVA) and multivariate analyses were applied. Results: The sample included 47.5% patients with hypertension, 39.5% with diabetes, and 13% with both conditions, mean age 67.54 years (±8.82), female predominance (58.5%). Health literacy demonstrated a moderate correlation with self-care in patients with hypertension (r = 0.648; p < 0.001) and weak but significant correlation in patients with diabetes (r = 0.274; p < 0.001). Multivariate analyses revealed that health literacy was associated with 42% of self-care variance in patients with hypertension (β = 0.927; 95% CI: 0.729–1.125; p < 0.001), while in patients with diabetes, together with sex factor, it was associated with 10.6% of variance (β = 0.117; 95% CI: 0.027–0.207; p = 0.011). Conclusion: Health literacy shows a stronger association with self-care hypertension’s patients than in patients with diabetes, suggesting the need for differentiated strategies to improve self-care in both populations.