Health Literacy among Visitors of District Polyclinics in Almaty, Kazakhstan

This study aimed to evaluate health literacy levels of patients in Almaty City, Kazakhstan and to identify socio-demographics and socio-economic factors related to their health literacy.
An international survey instrument HLS-EU-Q developed by the European Health Literacy Consortium was used in a cross-sectional study with 1000 citizens in the Almaty City at the age of 18 and over who visited the outpatient departments in the polyclinics between Feb and Oct 2014.
There were 552 women and 446 men completed the survey, with mean ages as (41.8 ± 13.9) and (44.7 ± 15.2) yr old respectively, and women were significantly younger than men (P Specific demographic and socio-economic determinants related to health literacy were identified the first time in Kazakhstan. This would facilitate programs to improve health outcomes in Kazakhstan.