Background and purpose: Health literacy can be defined as the ability to read, understand and
act on health advice. The aim of this study was to determine health literacy and its relationship with
medical adherence and health-related quality of life in diabetic community-residing elderly.
Material and Methods: This descriptive- analytical study was conducted on 300 elderly diabetics
(60 years old and older) who referred to health centers in Mashhad. Multi-stage stratified cluster sampling is
used. Data were collected using Brief-TOFHLA health literacy, standardized health-related quality of life,
HbA1c, BMI and MMAS medication adherence questionnaires. Furthermore, diet and exercise adherence
questionnaire was developed by the researchers. Data analyses were done by using One-Way Analysis of
Variance (ANOVA), T-student test, and Pearson's correlation test using SPSS (Version 21).
Results: In this study, 70% of elderly with diabetes had inadequate health literacy. Older adult
with sufficient health literacy had a higher-quality of life. There was a significant relationship between
health literacy and physical and psychological dimensions of quality of life (P<0.05). However, there was
not a marked correlation between health literacy and social dimension (P>0.05). The individuals with
adequate health literacy had significantly higher medication, diet and exercise adherence with lower
HbA1c (P<0.05). It is important to mention that, there was not a considerable relation between health
literacy and BMI (P>0.05).
Conclusion: According to the relationship between health literacy with medical adherence and
elderly quality of life, there is a need to pay attention to health literacy in health promotion programs.