The Relationship between Having Multiple Chronic Diseases and the Use of Digital Media for Health Information Seeking: The Moderating Role of Health Literacy

Objectives: This study aimed to examine the moderating effect of health literacy on the relationship between the number of chronic diseases and the use of digital media for seeking health information. Methods: This cross-sectional analysis was conducted using the 2021 dataset from the 2nd Korean Health Panel Survey (Ver 2.2). Complex sample analysis was applied to produce descriptive statistics. Binary logistic regression with sampling weights was used to assess associations between key variables, reporting odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) at a significance level of 0.05. Results: Multimorbidity, defined as having more than two chronic diseases, was negatively associated with the use of digital media for health information seeking (OR=0.187; 95% CI: 0.075-0.467). However, higher health literacy significantly moderated this relationship, increasing the likelihood of digital media use (OR=1.072; 95% CI: 1.001-1.148). Participants with poorer self-rated health showed lower levels of health literacy (Mean±Standard error: 12.14± 0.20; p<0.001) but were more likely to use digital media for health information seeking (OR=1.394; 95% CI: 1.051-1.848). Conclusions: The findings highlight the importance of tailored health literacy education and enhanced digital accessibility for patients with multiple chronic conditions. Health literacy functions as a critical enabling factor that mitigates barriers to digital media use, empowering patients with multimorbidity to effectively engage in health information seeking behavior. Such comprehensive efforts may promote better self-management of health and contribute to advancing health equity.