Health literacy and quality of life in an inner city laryngectomy population

8191 Background: Treatment for advanced laryngeal cancer is either total laryngectomy (TL) or a combination of chemotherapy and radiation. In order to make a treatment choice, patients must have functional health literacy (HL), the ability to successfully read, understand and apply medical instructions. Previous data indicate low literacy among adults ≥50 years old (when head and neck cancers occur most). Thus, we hypothesize that HL will be similarly deficient in this age group. This study describes the prevalence of inadequate HL and quality of life among an inner-city indigent cancer TL population. Methods: The records of the Grady Memorial Hospital Tumor Registry were reviewed for all patients having undergone TL for cancer between 01–01-88 and 12–31-02. Patients were invited to participate in face-to-face interviews measuring sociodemographics, health status (SF-12), and HL (S-TOFHLA). Of 30 eligible patients, 4 were deceased or too sick to participate, 4 refused, 10 could not be located or lived out...