In Los Angeles, 488 patients were screened and 386 were eligible for the study. A total of 8 patients refused to participate, 14 were called to see the physician before completing the interview, and 364 (94% of eligible) completed the interview. In Atlanta, 284 patients were screened and 250 were eligible for the study. A total of 8 patients refused to participate in the initial interview, 26 could not be located or declined to complete the exit interview, and 216 completed both the initial and exit interviews (86% of eligible). Of these, 8 patients reported that they did not have high blood pressure but had a diagnosis of hypertension in their medical record and took antihypertension medications.
More than two thirds (69%) of Spanish-speaking patients and 22% of English-speaking patients in Los Angeles and 57% of patients in Atlanta had inadequate functional health literacy. Characteristics of patients with hypertension and diabetes are presented according to literacy level in Table 1. Patients with marginal and inadequate literacy were older than patients with adequate literacy, among both patients with hypertension and diabetes (P