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Health literacy and sleep apnoea
  1. Ramesh Ghiassi,
  2. Martyn R Partridge
  1. Imperial College London, NHLI division at Charing Cross Hospital, Hammersmith, London, UK
  1. Correspondence to Ramesh Ghiassi, Imperial College London, NHLI division at Charing Cross Hospital, St Dunstan's Road, Hammersmith, London W6 8RP, UK; r.ghiassi{at}imperial.ac.uk

https://doi.org/10.1136/thx.2010.149070

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    Determining which of our patients struggle with numeracy or literacy is difficult and clinicians overestimate the levels of patient literacy.1 In a report in this journal, we demonstrate that 33% of new patients and 16% of serial users have difficulty completing the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS).2 To explore reasons for this we have assessed literacy in a further group of 122 patients attending either the Sleep Centre (Sleep group) or the Lung Function Laboratory (LF group). The level of functional literacy in medicine was assessed using the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine (REALM) questionnaire.3 A REALM score ≤60 suggests that the patient would struggle with patient education materials and …

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    Footnotes

    • Linked articles 136879.

    • Funding Other Funders: Health Foundation.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Ethics approval This study was conducted with the approval of the Riverside Ethics Committee.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; not externally peer reviewed.

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