Preventative Dentistry Department, College of Dental Medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia.
J Med Internet Res. 2024 Aug 28;26:e54072. doi: 10.2196/54072.
Halitosis, characterized by an undesirable mouth odor, represents a common concern.
This study aims to assess the quality and readability of web-based Arabic health information on halitosis as the internet is becoming a prominent global source of medical information.
A total of 300 Arabic websites were retrieved from Google using 3 commonly used phrases for halitosis in Arabic. The quality of the websites was assessed using benchmark criteria established by the Journal of the American Medical Association, the DISCERN tool, and the presence of the Health on the Net Foundation Code of Conduct (HONcode). The assessment of readability (Flesch Reading Ease [FRE], Simple Measure of Gobbledygook, and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level [FKGL]) was conducted using web-based readability indexes.
A total of 127 websites were examined. Regarding quality assessment, 87.4% (n=111) of websites failed to fulfill any Journal of the American Medical Association requirements, highlighting a lack of authorship (authors' contributions), attribution (references), disclosure (sponsorship), and currency (publication date). The DISCERN tool had a mean score of 34.55 (SD 7.46), with the majority (n=72, 56.6%) rated as moderate quality, 43.3% (n=55) as having a low score, and none receiving a high DISCERN score, indicating a general inadequacy in providing quality health information to make decisions and treatment choices. No website had HONcode certification, emphasizing the concern over the credibility and trustworthiness of these resources. Regarding readability assessment, Arabic halitosis websites had high readability scores, with 90.5% (n=115) receiving an FRE score ≥80, 98.4% (n=125) receiving a Simple Measure of Gobbledygook score <7, and 67.7% (n=86) receiving an FKGL score <7. There were significant correlations between the DISCERN scores and the quantity of words (P<.001) and sentences (P<.001) on the websites. Additionally, there was a significant relationship (P<.001) between the number of sentences and FKGL and FRE scores.
While readability was found to be very good, indicating that the information is accessible to the public, the quality of Arabic halitosis websites was poor, reflecting a significant gap in providing reliable and comprehensive health information. This highlights the need for improving the availability of high-quality materials to ensure Arabic-speaking populations have access to reliable information about halitosis and its treatment options, tying quality and availability together as critical for effective health communication.
口臭是一种令人不快的口腔异味，是一个常见的问题。
本研究旨在评估互联网上阿拉伯文口臭健康信息的质量和可读性，因为互联网已成为医学信息的主要全球来源。
使用阿拉伯文口臭的 3 个常用短语，从 Google 检索了 300 个阿拉伯文网站。使用《美国医学会杂志》制定的基准标准、DISCERN 工具和《健康网络基金会行为准则》（HONcode）评估网站的质量。使用基于网络的可读性指标（Flesch 阅读舒适度 [FRE]、简单可读性测试和 Flesch-Kincaid 年级水平 [FKGL]）评估可读性。
共检查了 127 个网站。在质量评估方面，87.4%（n=111）的网站未能满足《美国医学会杂志》的任何要求，突出了缺乏作者（作者贡献）、归属（参考文献）、披露（赞助）和时效（出版日期）的问题。DISCERN 工具的平均得分为 34.55（SD 7.46），大多数（n=72，56.6%）评为中等质量，43.3%（n=55）为低评分，没有网站获得高 DISCERN 评分，这表明在提供有关决策和治疗选择的高质量健康信息方面存在普遍不足。没有网站获得 HONcode 认证，这表明人们对这些资源的可信度和可靠性存在担忧。在可读性评估方面，阿拉伯文口臭网站的可读性得分较高，90.5%（n=115）的网站 FRE 得分≥80，98.4%（n=125）的网站 Simple Measure of Gobbledygook 得分<7，67.7%（n=86）的网站 FKGL 得分<7。网站上的单词数量（P<.001）和句子数量（P<.001）与 DISCERN 评分之间存在显著相关性。此外，句子数量与 FKGL 和 FRE 评分之间存在显著关系（P<.001）。
虽然可读性被发现非常好，表明公众可以访问这些信息，但阿拉伯文口臭网站的质量较差，反映出提供可靠和全面健康信息方面存在重大差距。这突显了需要改善高质量材料的可用性，以确保讲阿拉伯语的人群能够获得有关口臭及其治疗选择的可靠信息，将质量和可用性联系起来作为有效健康沟通的关键。
