Introduction: Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are still leading cause of death, and second cause of death in working population. If we take into consideration riskier behavior of population, such as smoking, inadequate physical inactivity and unhealthy diet which all start in early age, it is necessary to start with preventive measures to decrease risk factors associated with CVD with promotions of healthy life style. Improvement and promotion of health are the first measures in prevention of CVD, and if these measures are implemented correctly, they can decrease CVD for 80%, including active participation of patient in treatment and care for his health. The biggest challenge for all professionals in cardiovascular medicine is to implement many preventive measures. Numerous research shows that inadequate health literacy prevails among cardiovascular patients, and it is estimated that around 18% of them have difficulties in reading of medical documentation, and around of 52% difficulties in understanding and application of written information. (1) Health literacy implies personal, cognitive and social skills which determine individual’s abilities to gain access, understand and use medical information to promote and maintain good health. (2) Furthermore, research has shown that degree of health literacy is associated with quality of communication between healthcare workers and patients which effects compliance of patient, treatment outcome, and frequency of medical use, costs and overall quality of health care system. (3) Thus, more money is spending for patients with lower health literacy in health system, they have longer hospital stays and more frequent clinic appointments, but they rarely use preventive measures.

Subjects and methods: We have conducted research in Department of cardiology and cardiac rehabilitation in the period of June till September of 2018, and 89 subjects were enrolled. As instrument of research was used New Vital Sign test (NVS) which was translated to Croatian, (4) and general questionnaire about demography data and personal views of participants. Using NVS test we divided participants into three categories: NVS 1 high probability (50%) of low literacy, NVS 2 probability of limited literacy, NVS 3 adequate literacy.

Results: There were 62% male subjects and 38% female subjects. Average age of subjects was 65,7±10,6 years. 54% subjects had adequate literacy, 28% probably limited literacy and 18% high possibility of low literacy. From overall male subjects, 11% had NVS 1, 24% NVS 2, and 65% NVS 3. From overall female subjects 29% had NVS 1, 35% NVS 2, and 35% NVS 3. Subjects with NVS 3 were smokers in 15%, overweight in 94% and 56% consumed alcohol conveniently. 36% subjects with NSV 2 had grade 1 obesity and 8% of them were smokers, none of the subjects consumed alcohol regularly, while 36% consumed alcohol occasionally. Subjects with NVS 2 has a healthy diet in 84%, 76% were adequately active. None of the subjects in NVS 1 were smokers, and 75% of them don’t consume alcohol, and 81% of them have a healthy diet. 81% of subjects with NVS 1 are physically active enough in their own personal assessment.

Conclusion: Patients have big role in making decisions regarding their health. In order for patients to make decisions and have a quality participation in healthcare process, it is necessary to understand the instructions given by healthcare professionals. It is important to adjust medical information to patient’s degree of health literacy in order to make the communication between the patient and health professionals as good as possible.