Poor Literacy and Numeracy Skills in Caregivers Adversely Affects Glycemic Control in Children with Type 2 Diabetes

Poor Literacy and Numeracy Skills in Caregivers Adversely Affects Glycemic Control in Children with Type 2 Diabetes Poor comprehension of nutritio Poor comprehension of nutrition labels because of inadequate literacy and/or numeracy skills in caregivers may pose an impediment to achieving optimal glycemic control in pediatric type 2 diabetes. We hypothesized that poorly controlled diabetes is associated with inadequate literacy/ numerical skills of caregivers in the pediatric type 2 diabetes population.[br]Primary caregivers were evaluated using the Newest Vital Sign (NVS) and a sociodemographic questionnaire. The NVS, a screening tool in English and Spanish, identifies persons at risk for low health literacy by measuring general literacy and numerical skills as applied to health information, yielding an overall estimate of health literacy.[br]Forty caregivers of type 2 diabetes children with mean HbA1C of 8.8 [plusmn] 3%, age of 14 [plusmn] 2.7 years, duration of disease of 3.1 [plusmn] 2.1 years, and BMI of 31.9 [plusmn] 5.4 Kg/ m[sup2] participated. Those with inadequate literacy were associated with significantly higher HbA1C at 11.2 [plusmn] 2.8% when compared with those of adequate literacy at 7.7 [plusmn] 2.3% (p[lt]0.03). HbA1c was significantly lower in the children when caregivers answered 75 % of the arithmetic questions correctly (7.4 [plusmn] 2.4%) when compared with those who did not (9.8 [plusmn]3%), p[lt] 0.009. Education and income of caregivers appear to have an insignificant effect on glycemic control.[br]Adequate literacy and numerical skills of primary caregivers was found to be associated with significantly better glycemic control in their children with type 2 diabetes. Targeting caregiver literacy may improve glycemic control. KRISHNAVATHANA HASSAN, RUBINA A. HEPTULLA, LUISA M. RODRIGUEZ, ROBYN O. KLENK 1258-P Houston, TX, Bronx, NY Pediatrics - Type 2 Diabetes