Health literacy and oral health literacy: are they associated? A cross sectional survey among undergraduate students of tricity (Chandigarh, Mohali, Panchkula), India

INTRODUCTION: Health Literacy is the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate decisions. As with general health; achieving and maintaining oral health requires one to be able to understand, interpret and act on various types of health information. OBJECTIVE: The present study was conducted to determine the association between health literacy and oral health literacy among undergraduate students in tricity (Chandigarh, Mohali, Panchkula), India. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 490 undergraduate students studying in tricity, from randomly selected 10 colleges. The data was collected by a single trained examiner, using a structured proforma. The questionnaire consisted of two parts, REALM-66 and REALD-30. The subject was given a copy of list of words to be pronounced and score one was given for each word pronounced correctly. RESULTS: REALM-66 scores showed that subjects with health literacy level equivalent to fourth- sixth grade is 1%, seventh- eighth grade was 64.4% and 29.6% for ninth grade and above. REALD-30 scores showed that 37.6% subjects had low level of literacy, 33.1% had moderate and 29.3% had high level of literacy. REALM and REALD scores were found to be positively correlated for qualification and genders. CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge, this is the first study reporting association between health and oral health literacy. As the correlations were not strong, thus the results should be regarded as a first step to provide evidence.