Assessment of Health Literacy as a Predictor of Asthma Exacerbation Among Puerto Rican Veteran Patients

Asthma affects about 5% to 10% of the adult population in the U.S., and the prevalence of this condition has been increasing steadily in other industrialized countries.(1) Asthma represents a significant health care burden and about 4,000 preventable deaths in the U.S.(2) In Puerto Rico, the reported prevalence of asthma has been documented to be up to 32% among children.(3) Likewise, the island also has the highest self-reported prevalence of asthma among adults, 15.9%.(4) It has been noted that inadequate health literacy (HL) correlates with poor general knowledge of asthma and improper metered-dose inhaler (MDI) use.(5)