The Relationship between Health Literacy and Health Behaviour in People with Diabetes: A Danish Population-Based Study

Table 1

Characteristics of participants with diabetes from the “How Are You?” survey, Central Denmark Region (2013) (,685).

		%
Sociodemographic factors
Gender
Male	954	54.9
Female	731	45.1
Age (years)
25–44	115	9.5
45–64	652	39.5
65–84	866	47.1
85+	52	4.0
Educational attainment
Low	529	34.1
Medium	790	48.9
High	282	17.1
Ethnic background
Danish	1633	95.0
Non-Danish	52	5.0
Marital status
Living alone	479	38.4
Married/cohabiting	1170	61.6
Health literacy dimensions
Understand health information
Difficult/very difficult	121	9.3
Easy/very easy	1446	90.7
Mean scale score (2.92, SD 0.61)
Actively engage with healthcare providers
Difficult/very difficult	133	9.3
Easy/very easy	1438	90.7
Mean scale score (3.00, SD 0.62)
Health behaviours
Daily smoker
No	1319	78.9
Yes	330	21.1
High-risk alcohol consumption^1
No	1427	93.5
Yes	102	6.5
Physically inactive^2
No	1172	69.3
Yes	457	30.7
Unhealthy dietary habits^3
No	1390	87.7
Yes	168	12.3

≥21 drinks/week for men and ≥14 drinks/week for women.
²Max. 30 minutes of physical activity one day during a typical week.
³Low intake of fruit, vegetables, and fish, and a high amount of saturated fat.