Hosseinzadeh Shayan, Blazar Philip, Earp Brandon E, Zhang Dafang
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
J Patient Exp. 2021 Oct 27;8:23743735211056431. doi: 10.1177/23743735211056431. eCollection 2021.
Dupuytren's contracture is a common hand pathology for which consultation and treatment are largely at the patient's discretion. The objective of this study was to evaluate the readability of current online patient information regarding Dupuytren's contracture. The largest public search engines (Google, Yahoo, and Bing) were queried using the search terms "Dupuytren's contracture," "Dupuytren's disease," "Viking's disease," and "bent finger." The first 30 unique websites by each search were analyzed and readability assessed using five established algorithms: Flesch Reading Ease, Gunning-Fog Index, Flesch-Kincaid Grade level, Coleman-Liau index, and Simple Measure of Gobbledygook grade level. Analysis of 73 websites demonstrated an average Flesch Reading Ease score of 48.6 ± 8.0, which corresponds to college reading level. The readability of websites ranged from 10.5 to 13.3 reading grade level. No article was written at or below the recommended sixth grade reading level. Information on the internet on Dupuytren's contracture is written at higher than recommended reading grade level. There is a need for high-quality patient information on Dupuytren's contracture at appropriate reading grade levels for patients of various health literacy backgrounds. Hospitals, universities, and academic organizations focused on the development of readable online information should consider patients' input and preferences.
掌腱膜挛缩症是一种常见的手部疾病，对于这种疾病，患者在很大程度上可以自行决定是否咨询和接受治疗。本研究的目的是评估当前在线患者信息中关于掌腱膜挛缩症的可读性。使用搜索词“掌腱膜挛缩症”、“掌腱膜病”、“维京氏病”和“手指弯曲”对最大的几个公共搜索引擎（谷歌、雅虎和必应）进行了查询。对每个搜索引擎搜索出的前30个独特网站进行了分析，并使用五种既定算法评估其可读性：弗莱什易读性指数、冈宁-福格指数、弗莱什-金凯德年级水平、科尔曼-廖指数和简单费解度等级水平。对73个网站的分析表明，平均弗莱什易读性指数得分为48.6±8.0，这相当于大学阅读水平。网站的可读性范围为10.5至13.3阅读年级水平。没有一篇文章是按照或低于推荐的六年级阅读水平撰写的。互联网上关于掌腱膜挛缩症的信息所采用的阅读年级水平高于推荐水平。对于不同健康素养背景的患者，需要有处于适当阅读年级水平的关于掌腱膜挛缩症的高质量患者信息。专注于开发易读在线信息的医院、大学和学术组织应考虑患者的意见和偏好。
