Introduction <p>Emergency department visits are common following bariatric surgery and may be partially preventable. Health literacy and general self-efficacy are factors that may influence health-seeking behaviors in these patients. This study aimed to assess whether health literacy and general self-efficacy are associated with an increased frequency of emergency department visits after bariatric surgery.</p> Methods <p>Patients who underwent bariatric surgery at a single hospital from 2018 to 2020 were evaluated for their health literacy and general self-efficacy levels before surgery. Data on emergency department visits within the patient’s residential region were evaluated over a three-year period, with repeated emergency department visits for abdominal pain as the primary outcome.</p> Results <p>During the follow-up period, 69 of 231 patients (29.9%) had at least one emergency department visit for abdominal pain, and 20 patients (8.7%) had three or more visits. Inadequate functional health literacy (OR 5.56, 95% CI 1.80-17.19, <i>p</i> = 0.003) and inadequate communicative and critical health literacy (OR 10.48, 95% CI 3.13–35.08, <i>p</i> &lt; 0.001) were both significantly associated with an increased risk of repeated emergency department visits over the three-year period. No significant association was found between low general self-efficacy and the frequency of emergency department visits.</p> Conclusions <p>Inadequate health literacy is associated with an increased risk of repeated emergency department visits for abdominal pain following bariatric surgery.</p>

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Association of health literacy and general self-efficacy with emergency department visits for unclear abdominal pain after bariatric surgery

  • Jenny Angerås-Kraftling,
  • Maria Jaensson,
  • Karuna Dahlberg,
  • Erik Stenberg

摘要

Introduction

Emergency department visits are common following bariatric surgery and may be partially preventable. Health literacy and general self-efficacy are factors that may influence health-seeking behaviors in these patients. This study aimed to assess whether health literacy and general self-efficacy are associated with an increased frequency of emergency department visits after bariatric surgery.

Methods

Patients who underwent bariatric surgery at a single hospital from 2018 to 2020 were evaluated for their health literacy and general self-efficacy levels before surgery. Data on emergency department visits within the patient’s residential region were evaluated over a three-year period, with repeated emergency department visits for abdominal pain as the primary outcome.

Results

During the follow-up period, 69 of 231 patients (29.9%) had at least one emergency department visit for abdominal pain, and 20 patients (8.7%) had three or more visits. Inadequate functional health literacy (OR 5.56, 95% CI 1.80-17.19, p = 0.003) and inadequate communicative and critical health literacy (OR 10.48, 95% CI 3.13–35.08, p < 0.001) were both significantly associated with an increased risk of repeated emergency department visits over the three-year period. No significant association was found between low general self-efficacy and the frequency of emergency department visits.

Conclusions

Inadequate health literacy is associated with an increased risk of repeated emergency department visits for abdominal pain following bariatric surgery.