Graduate School of Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan.
Graduate School of Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan; Graduate School of Global and Transdisciplinary Studies, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan.
J Orthop Sci. 2024 Sep;29(5):1313-1318. doi: 10.1016/j.jos.2023.08.003. Epub 2023 Aug 18.
This study aimed to quantify the readability and quality of online patient resources on knee osteoarthritis and lumbar spinal stenosis in Japan.
Three search engines (Google, Yahoo, and Bing) were searched for the terms knee osteoarthritis and lumbar spinal stenosis. The first 30 websites of each search were screened. Duplicate websites and those unrelated to the searched diseases were excluded. The remaining 125 websites (62 on knee osteoarthritis, 63 on lumbar spinal stenosis) were analyzed. The text readability was assessed using two web-based programs (Obi-3 and Readability Research Lab) and lexical density. Website quality was evaluated using the DISCERN score, Clear Communication Index, and Journal of American Medical Association benchmark criteria.
Readability scores were high, indicating that the texts were difficult to understand. Only 24 (19%) and six (5%) websites were classified as average difficulty readability according to Obi-3 and Readability Research Lab, respectively. The overall quality of information was low, with only four (3%) being rated as having sufficient quality based on the Clear Communication Index and Journal of American Medical Association benchmark criteria. None of the websites satisfied the DISCERN quality criteria.
Patient information on Japanese websites regarding knee osteoarthritis and lumbar spinal stenosis were difficult to understand. Moreover, the quality of the websites was insufficient. Orthopaedic surgeons should contribute to the creation of high-quality easy-to-read websites to facilitate patient-physician communication.
本研究旨在量化日本膝关节骨关节炎和腰椎椎管狭窄症在线患者资源的可读性和质量。
在三个搜索引擎（谷歌、雅虎和必应）中搜索“膝关节骨关节炎”和“腰椎椎管狭窄症”。筛选每个搜索引擎的前 30 个网站。排除重复网站和与搜索疾病无关的网站。分析剩余的 125 个网站（膝关节骨关节炎 62 个，腰椎椎管狭窄症 63 个）。使用两个网络程序（Obi-3 和 Readability Research Lab）和词汇密度评估文本的可读性。使用 DISCERN 评分、清晰沟通指数和美国医学会基准标准评估网站质量。
可读性评分较高，表明文本难以理解。根据 Obi-3 和 Readability Research Lab，只有 24 个（19%）和 6 个（5%）网站分别被归类为中等难度可读性。信息的整体质量较低，只有 4 个（3%）根据清晰沟通指数和美国医学会基准标准被评为具有足够质量。没有一个网站符合 DISCERN 质量标准。
日本网站上关于膝关节骨关节炎和腰椎椎管狭窄症的患者信息难以理解。此外，网站的质量也不足。骨科医生应该为创建高质量的易读网站做出贡献，以促进医患沟通。
