University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.
Department of Urology, Stanford University School of Medicine, 453 Quarry Road, Urology 5656, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA.
J Pediatr Urol. 2023 Oct;19(5):558.e1-558.e7. doi: 10.1016/j.jpurol.2023.05.001. Epub 2023 May 4.
Bedwetting, or nocturnal enuresis (NE), is a common childhood disease. Families increasingly turn to free online resources for health education in order to navigate treatment options.
We aim to determine the readability and quality of online health information that families may encounter when searching for information on pediatric NE.
The search term 'bedwetting' was queried in commonly used search engines. Included articles were further categorized as institutional/reference, commercial, non-profit/charitable, or personal. An online readability platform calculated 3 commonly used readability assessments as well as a consensus score. Quality was assessed by two independent pediatric urologists using a validated DISCERN instrument. Differences in readability were further assessed by article category type.
36 websites were reviewed, 3 did not include treatment options and were not included in quality assessment. 55.6% of the articles were categorized as institutional/reference, 27.8% as non-profit/charitable, 11.1% as personal, and 5.6% as commercial. The average, standard deviation, and range of readability level were as follows: overall consensus score = 9.56 ± 2.09, FK Grade Level Formula score = 9.38 ± 2.17 (range 5.8-14.1), SMOG Index score = 8.89 ± 1.79 (range 6.4-12.9), and the GF Index score = 11.86 ± 2.34 (range 8.4-16.9). The overall consensus score, 9.56, correlates to a 9th-grade reading level. 16 articles were considered to be of 'good' quality, 12 of 'fair' quality, and 5 of 'poor' quality; according to the DISCERN scoring. There was no statistically significant difference in readability scores across website categories. Two articles included the outdated treatment option of intranasal DDAVP.
These findings are concordant with the increasing body of literature demonstrating that patient education materials are too difficult to read. Pediatric urologists should be aware of the readability and quality of available online content for common clinical presentations. They can ensure that institutional articles online are useful to patients by participating in the development and design of these materials.
We demonstrated that online articles that families encounter via a search engine query for bedwetting are written at a higher level than recommended and the majority are of 'fair' quality. There is much room for improvement for institutions to provide high quality, readable content that supports the needs of families seeking information on NE.
尿床，又称夜间遗尿（NE），是一种常见的儿童疾病。为了寻找治疗方法，越来越多的家庭开始转向免费的在线资源获取健康知识。
我们旨在确定家庭在搜索儿科 NE 信息时可能遇到的在线健康信息的可读性和质量。
使用常用搜索引擎查询“尿床”一词。收录的文章进一步分为机构/参考、商业、非营利/慈善或个人。一个在线可读性平台计算了 3 种常用的可读性评估方法和一个共识评分。两位独立的小儿泌尿科医生使用经过验证的 DISCERN 工具评估了质量。进一步根据文章类别类型评估了可读性差异。
共审查了 36 个网站，其中 3 个网站未包含治疗方案，未纳入质量评估。55.6%的文章被归类为机构/参考，27.8%为非营利/慈善，11.1%为个人，5.6%为商业。可读性水平的平均值、标准差和范围如下：整体共识评分=9.56±2.09，FK 年级水平公式评分=9.38±2.17（范围 5.8-14.1），SMOG 指数评分=8.89±1.79（范围 6.4-12.9），GF 指数评分=11.86±2.34（范围 8.4-16.9）。整体共识评分 9.56 相当于 9 年级阅读水平。根据 DISCERN 评分，16 篇文章被认为质量“良好”，12 篇文章质量“中等”，5 篇文章质量“差”。网站类别之间的可读性评分没有统计学意义上的差异。有 2 篇文章包含了过时的治疗选择——鼻内 DDAVP。
这些发现与越来越多的文献一致，这些文献表明患者教育材料太难读懂。小儿泌尿科医生应该了解常见临床症状的在线可用内容的可读性和质量。他们可以通过参与这些材料的开发和设计，确保机构在线文章对患者有用。
我们证明，家庭通过搜索引擎查询尿床时遇到的在线文章的写作水平高于推荐水平，且大多数文章的质量为“中等”。为了向寻求 NE 信息的家庭提供高质量、易读的内容，机构还有很大的改进空间。
