Introduction:

Haemodialysis patients are subject to a therapeutic regimen whose adherence helps to reduce the occurrence of associated complications. Non-compliance is a prevalent problem in clinical practice. Low levels of health literacy are associated with lack of self-care, errors in taking medications and difficulty in understanding instructions, leading to a higher rate of non-compliance.

Objective:

To determine the level of non-compliance with treatment according to the level of health literacy of haemodialysis patients and to assess other possible factors involved.

Material and Method:

Prospective study of 35 haemodialysis patients. Health literacy was assessed using the Health Literacy Survey European Union questionnaire and the degree of therapeutic non-compliance was assessed using interdialytic weight gain and analytical indicators, according to the recommendations of clinical guidelines.

Results:

Patients with adequate literacy (≥34 points) had lower non-compliance than patients with inadequate literacy in relation to interdialytic weight gain (78% vs 70%), potassium (67% vs 56%), albumin (83% vs 72%); but higher non-compliance with phosphorus (83.33% vs 51.44%) - p<0.05 in all cases.

Conclusions:

Patients with a higher level of health literacy have a lower degree of non-compliance, except for phosphorus, which is the parameter with the worst adherence rate.