Our study demonstrates that, among patients who have type 2 diabetes and access to primary care physicians in public hospital clinics, health literacy was independently associated with glycemic control. Inadequate health literacy was an independent predictor of poor glycemic control and was associated with a lower likelihood of achieving tight control. In addition, inadequate health literacy was associated with a higher prevalence of retinopathy and other self-reported complications of diabetes. The results of our study are consistent with those of a smaller study in which a trend of worse control of blood glucose levels with worse health literacy was noted.8