Health literacy, perceived stress, and dietary quality among Danish women with recent gestational diabetes mellitus.

OBJECTIVES

Adhering to dietary recommendations after gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) can mitigate the risk of early-onset type 2 diabetes. Psychosocial aspects, such as health literacy and perceived stress, may affect adherence to these recommendations; yet this remains underexplored in women with recent GDM. This study aimed to examine the association between health literacy and dietary quality 10-14 weeks postpartum and to assess the influence of perceived stress.

STUDY

DESIGN

Cross-sectional study.

METHODS

This study used baseline data from the Face-it trial, including 283 Danish women with recent GDM 10-14 weeks postpartum. Dietary quality was measured using the Dietary Quality Score (DQS), health literacy using two domains of the Health Literacy Questionnaire: HLQ-2 (Having sufficient information to manage my health) and HLQ-3 (Actively managing my health), and stress using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). Multiple linear regression examined the association between HLQ-2 and DQS, and HLQ-3 and DQS, adjusting for age, education, and country of birth. Additional analyses examined the influence of perceived stress.

RESULTS

Among women with recent GDM, reporting Having sufficient information to manage their health (HLQ-2) and Actively managing their health (HLQ-3) were positively associated with dietary quality, with βadjusted = 0.55 [95 % CI: 0.22-0.87] and βadjusted = 1.12 [95 % CI: 0.84-1.41], respectively. Perceived stress did not affect these associations.

CONCLUSION

Health literacy was positively associated with dietary quality among Danish women with recent GDM. Stress did not affect this association.