Purpose: The middle age is transition from youth to elderly
and associates with biological changes in health status. This
period requires individuals to choose a lifestyle to maintain
and promote health in this life span. The aim of this study is to
compare the health promoting lifestyle and health literacy
among the middle-aged men and women.
Materials and Methods: This analytical-comparative study
was conducted with the participation of 400 middle-aged men
and women in six comprehensive health care centers in Tehran
city by available sampling method. Study's tools included
Health Literacy for Iranian Adults (HELIA) questionnaire and
the adult version of health promoting lifestyle profile (HPLPII). Data was analyzed quantitatively using SPSS software
version 20. The significance level was defined less than 0.05.
Findings: Totally, only 66.5% of the participants had
adequate or higher health literacy. Middle-aged women had
higher scores than men in both domain of health literacy and
health-promoting lifestyle. The regression analysis indicated
that the household income (B=7.03, P=0.028), individual
adherence to religious principles (B=17.60, P=0.002) and
having basic health insurance (B=11.99, P=0.004) were
associated significantly with health promoting lifestyle,
whereas, enjoying high education (B=21.25, P=0.001) was the
strongest influential factor for the better health literacy among
all middle-aged.
Conclusions: In spite of higher level of health literacy of
middle-aged women compared to men, there was no
significant difference between them in term of healthpromoting lifestyle. In addition, irrespective of gender,
middle-aged people with health insurance, more favorable
economic status and fidelity to religious beliefs may enjoy
healthier lifestyle.