Objective@#To investigate the level and influencing factors of
health literacy among the
elderly in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province, so as to provide the evidence for developing the strategy to improve
health literacy among the
elderly. @*
Methods@#A total of 3 125 residents at ages of 60 years and older were recruited from Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture with a multistage random
cluster sampling method from June to September, 2021. The
level of health literacy was investigate among the
elderly using the
Questionnaire on the
Health Literacy among
Chinese Residents, and factors affecting the
health literacy were identified using a multivariable
logistic regression model. @*Results@# A total of 3 125
questionnaires were allocated and 3 022 valid
questionnaires were recovered, with an effective recovery rate of 96.70%. The
respondents included 1 562
men (51.69%) and 1 460
women (48.31%), and had a mean age of (67.37±5.78) years. The participants included 1 234 individuals with an
ethnic minority (40.83%). The overall
prevalence of
health literacy was 5.99% among participants, and the
prevalence rates of basic healthy
knowledge and
attitudes,
healthy lifestyles and
behaviors and basic
health-related skills were 13.57%, 8.97% and 7.67%, respectively. Multivariable
logistic regression analysis identified Han
Ethnicity (OR=2.266, 95%CI 1.497-3.431),
educational level (
illiteracy/semi-
illiteracy, OR=0.097, 95%CI 0.038-0.246;
primary school, OR=0.125, 95%CI 0.051-0.303; junior
high school, OR=0.276, 95%CI 0.113-0.672;
high school/vocational
high school/technical
secondary school, OR=0.307, 95%CI 0.125-0.757), enterprise
workers (OR=1.791, 95%CI 1.089-2.947) and annual
household income of less than 10 000 RMB (OR=0.526, 95%CI 0.294-0.940) as factors affecting
health literacy among the
elderly in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. @*Conclusions@#The
level of health literacy is low among the
elderly in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, and
ethnicity,
educational level,
occupation and annual
household income are main factors affecting the
level of health literacy among the
elderly in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.