Hassan Mahmoodi|Sahar Dalvand|Reza Ghanei Gheshlagh|Amanj Kurdi
A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Health Literacy in the Iranian Population: Findings and Implications
University of Tabriz|Tehran University of Medical Sciences|Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences|University of Strathclyde
context health literacy includes social cognitive skills determining individuals motivation obtain understand health information thus empowers promote healthy behaviors exact level health literacy iranian population unknown different iranian studies reported different health literacy rates iranian population objectives therefore study aimed investigate health literacy iranian population systematically combining analyzing findings previous studies methods total 26 articles persian english published december 2017 reviewed searching articles keywords prevalence abundance health literacy iran conducted following national international databases scientific information database sid medline magiran web science sciencedirect google scholar pubmed scopus data analyzed using metaanalysis method random effects model heterogeneity among studies examined using i2 statistic statistical analysis performed using stata version 12 results highest levels health literacy region 1 iran including following provinces alborz tehran qazvin mazandaran semnan golestan ghom 467 95 ci 257 677 moreover pregnant women 374 95 ci 27 533 highest level health literacy contrast older people 602 95 ci 437 768 patients diabetes 554 95 ci 356 752 lowest health literacy levels conclusions lowest health literacy level older people patients diabetes therefore seems necessary provide education communities groups inadequate health literacy levels especially older people patients chronic diseases improve health