Introduction: Health literacy is an increasingly recognized concept in diabetes care. The Newest Vital Sign (NVS) is an English instrument testing health literacy using a nutrition label. No studies looked into health literacy in the Arab world and no validated tool established to test health literacy in Arab-speaking populations. We aim to translate and validate the NVS tool to Arabic and test it on a pilot of Arabic-speaking caregivers of children with type 1 diabetes. Methods: Phase 1 (Production of the Arabic version): The original NVS was translated to Arabic then reviewed by a panel of expertise. A modified Arabic version was then created and back-translated. Phase 2 (Translation Validation): The original and back- translated versions were compared based on the comparability of language and similarity of interpretation. Phase 3 (Pilot Project): the Arabic version is used to measure health literacy among a pilot of caregivers of pediatric patients of type 1 diabetes. Results: The mean comparability and similarity scores were accepted for each item on the Arabic version (±2.5) except for three items. These three items were not reviewed and accepted as is as it is the official presentation of product information on food labels in Kuwait. The mean NVS score for the pilot was 3.2 ± 2.1. Children of caregivers with adequate health literacy scores did not have poor glycemic control (HbA1C ≥9%). Children of caregivers with likely limited health literacy did not have good control (HbA1C ≤7.5%). Conclusion: The Arabic version of the NVS tool seems to be an accepted tool to measure health literacy in Arabic-speaking populations. Although based on small numbers, limited health literacy of caregivers seems to be linked to inadequate glycemic control of their children. Further link should be studies on a larger sample in order to be generalized to Arabian populations.

Al-Abdulrazzaq, D., et al., Health literacy: A universal language in diverse diabetes care systems-a pilot project to test health literacy of caregivers of children with type 1 diabetes in Kuwait. Pediatric Diabetes, 2014. 15: p. 103.

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