Division of Urology, University of Vermont College of Medicine, 89 Beaumont Ave, Burlington, VT 05405, USA.
Department of Urology, UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals, 1825 Fourth St, 5th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
J Pediatr Urol. 2019 Feb;15(1):40.e1-40.e6. doi: 10.1016/j.jpurol.2018.08.020. Epub 2018 Sep 6.
Hypospadias is one of the most common genital anomalies. Treatment of hypospadias requires surgical repair, usually in childhood. Patients are increasingly using the internet to learn more about their health or that of their children, which can often empower patients to make well-informed healthcare decisions.
The objective of this study was to evaluate not only the readability but also the quality and accuracy of available online health information for the treatment of hypospadias.
Search terms for hypospadias treatment were queried on major search engines. Each website was classified into one of four categories: institutional, commercial, charitable organization, or personal website. Content on each website discussing treatment options was analyzed for readability using three readability formulas. A validated tool, the DISCERN instrument, was used to measure the quality of online health information regarding hypospadias treatment. Accuracy was independently assessed by two pediatric urologists on a 1-5 scale, in which 1 and 5 correspond to 0% and 100% of the information in the text being accurate, respectively.
A total of 150 search engine results were acquired, of which 46 were analyzed for readability, quality, and accuracy. The mean readability scores across all websites were 14.89 (Gunning-Fog), 11.01 Simple Measure of Goddledygook (SMOG), and 8.44 (Dale-Chall), which correspond to an 11th- to 12th-grade reading level. Most websites (65.2%) were considered of 'good' quality. Readability and quality scores were not statistically different between website categories. Institutional and charitable websites had the highest mean accuracy scores (3.91 and 3.50, respectively), with institutional websites proving to have significantly more accurate information regarding hypospadias treatment than commercial websites (3.91 and 3.42, respectively; P = 0.001).
Pediatric urologists should know what information about hypospadias and its treatment exists on the Internet and understand if it is accurate and of good quality and, more importantly, if the material is written at a reading level comprehensible by the majority of parents. Limitations included analysis of only English-written websites regarding hypospadias treatment specifically, using search engines alone rather than other online resources, not evaluating online videos or illustrations, and not using more than two pediatric urologists for determining content accuracy.
This study demonstrates that online health materials regarding hypospadias and its treatment are written at a level far greater than the reading level of most adults. Most websites were considered of adequate quality, and websites from institutions or references had significantly more accurate information than those from commercial websites.
尿道下裂是最常见的生殖器畸形之一。尿道下裂的治疗需要手术修复，通常在儿童时期进行。患者越来越多地使用互联网来了解更多关于自己或孩子的健康信息，这通常使患者能够做出明智的医疗决策。
本研究的目的不仅是评估在线治疗尿道下裂的健康信息的可读性，还评估其质量和准确性。
在主要搜索引擎上查询尿道下裂治疗的检索词。每个网站都分为四类之一：机构、商业、慈善组织或个人网站。分析每个网站上讨论治疗选择的内容的可读性，使用三种可读性公式。使用经过验证的 DISCERN 工具衡量有关尿道下裂治疗的在线健康信息的质量。准确性由两名小儿泌尿科医生独立评估，1 分和 5 分分别对应文本中信息的准确性为 0%和 100%。
共获得 150 个搜索引擎结果，其中 46 个用于分析可读性、质量和准确性。所有网站的平均可读性评分为 14.89（Gunning-Fog）、11.01 简单测语法难度（SMOG）和 8.44（Dale-Chall），分别对应 11 至 12 年级的阅读水平。大多数网站（65.2%）被认为质量“良好”。网站类别之间的可读性和质量评分没有统计学差异。机构和慈善网站的平均准确性评分最高（分别为 3.91 和 3.50），与商业网站相比，机构网站提供的有关尿道下裂治疗的信息准确性明显更高（分别为 3.91 和 3.42；P=0.001）。
小儿泌尿科医生应该了解互联网上存在哪些关于尿道下裂及其治疗的信息，并了解其是否准确且质量良好，更重要的是，材料的编写是否通俗易懂。本研究的局限性包括仅分析特定于尿道下裂治疗的英文网站、仅使用搜索引擎而不是其他在线资源、不评估在线视频或插图以及不使用两名以上小儿泌尿科医生来确定内容准确性。
本研究表明，有关尿道下裂及其治疗的在线健康材料的编写水平远高于大多数成年人的阅读水平。大多数网站被认为质量良好，而来自机构或参考资料的网站比来自商业网站的信息准确性更高。
