The Relationship Between Health Literacy, Autonomic Nervous Activity, and Acceleration Pulse Wave in Japanese Adults:...

Autonomic nervous activity and acceleration plethysmography (APG) are effective biomarkers for assessing health status. However, the relationship between health literacy and these factors is unclear.

This study investigated the relationship between health literacy, autonomic nervous activity, and APG.

This cross-sectional analysis included 222 Japanese adults. Health literacy was assessed using the Japanese version of the HLS-EU-Q16. Autonomic nervous activity and APG were measured using a pulse analyzer.

Women were significantly older than men (p<0.01) and had higher health literacy (p<0.01). Therefore, health literacy was compared by gender. The high-health-literacy group tended to have a higher age and quality of life, and their APG was significantly higher. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that high health literacy was associated with age, quality of life, and parasympathetic nerve activity.  Discussion: Improving health literacy in community-dwelling individuals suggests the need for intervention from a younger age. Although the odds ratio was low for both health literacy and autonomic nervous system activity, a correlation was suspected. Further verification is necessary when selecting subjects in the future.