Division of Urology, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, St Louis, Missouri.
Division of Urology, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield, Illinois.
Urol Pract. 2024 Jul;11(4):670-676. doi: 10.1097/UPJ.0000000000000574. Epub 2024 May 16.
A growing number of Americans search online for health information related to urologic oncologic care each year. The American Medical Association recommends that medical information be written at a maximum sixth-grade level in order to be comprehensible by the majority of patients. As such, it is important to assess the quality and readability of online patient education material that patients are being exposed to.
A Google search was performed using the terms "testicular cancer," "prostate cancer," "kidney cancer," and "bladder cancer," and the top 30 results for each were reviewed. Websites were categorized based on their source. Readability was assessed using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, the Gunning Frequency of Gobbledygook, and the Simple Measure of Gobbledygook indices. Quality was assessed using the DISCERN Quality Index (1-5 scale).
A total of 91 websites were included in our analysis. On average, online health information pertaining to urologic cancers is written at a 10th- to 11th-grade reading level, which is significantly higher than that of an average American adult and that recommended by the American Medical Association ( < .01). The overall quality of websites was 3.4 ± 0.7, representing moderate to high quality. There was no significant difference in readability based on cancer type or information source.
Despite being of moderate to high quality, online patient education materials related to common urologic cancers are often written at a grade level that exceeds the reading level of an average American adult. This presents as a barrier to online health literacy and calls into question the utility of these resources.
每年，越来越多的美国人在网上搜索与泌尿科肿瘤护理相关的健康信息。美国医学协会建议，医疗信息的写作水平最高应达到六年级，以便大多数患者能够理解。因此，评估患者正在接触的在线患者教育材料的质量和可读性非常重要。
使用“睾丸癌”、“前列腺癌”、“肾癌”和“膀胱癌”等术语进行了谷歌搜索，并对每个术语的前 30 个结果进行了审查。根据来源对网站进行了分类。使用 Flesch-Kincaid 年级水平、Gunning 晦涩频率和简单晦涩度量指数评估可读性。使用 DISCERN 质量指数（1-5 分制）评估质量。
共有 91 个网站纳入我们的分析。平均而言，与泌尿科癌症相关的在线健康信息的阅读水平为 10-11 年级，明显高于普通美国成年人的阅读水平和美国医学协会的建议（<0.01）。网站的整体质量为 3.4±0.7，代表中等至高质量。癌症类型或信息来源对可读性没有显著影响。
尽管在线患者教育材料的质量为中等至高质量，但与常见泌尿科癌症相关的材料的阅读水平往往超过普通美国成年人的阅读水平。这给在线健康素养带来了障碍，并对这些资源的实用性提出了质疑。
