David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, California.
Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California; Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, San Francisco, California.
J Surg Res. 2024 Nov;303:89-94. doi: 10.1016/j.jss.2024.08.013. Epub 2024 Sep 19.
Online patient educational materials (OPEMs) help patients engage in their health care. The American Medical Association (AMA) recommends OPEM be written at or below the 6th grade reading level. This study assessed the readability of deep venous thrombosis OPEM in English and Spanish.
Google searches were conducted in English and Spanish using "deep venous thrombosis" and "trombosis venosa profunda," respectively. The top 25 patient-facing results were recorded for each, and categorized into source type (hospital, professional society, other). Readability of English OPEM was measured using several scales including the Flesch Reading Ease Readability Formula and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level. Readability of Spanish OPEM was measured using the Fernández-Huerta Index and INFLESZ Scale. Readability was compared to the AMA recommendation, between languages, and across source types.
Only one (4%) Spanish OPEM was written at an easy level, compared to 7 (28%) English OPEM (P = 0.04). More English (28%) OPEM were easy to read compared to Spanish (4%), with a significant difference in reading difficulty breakdown between languages (P = 0.04). The average readability scores for English and Spanish OPEM across all scales were significantly greater than the recommended level (P < 0.01). Only four total articles (8%) met the AMA recommendation, with no significant difference between English and Spanish OPEM (P = 0.61).
Nearly all English and Spanish deep venous thrombosis OPEM analyzed were above the recommended reading level. English resources had overall easier readability compared to Spanish, which may represent a barrier to care. To limit health disparities, information should be presented at accessible reading levels.
在线患者教育材料（OPEM）有助于患者参与其医疗保健。美国医学协会（AMA）建议 OPEM 的写作水平应低于或等于 6 年级阅读水平。本研究评估了英文和西班牙文深静脉血栓形成 OPEM 的可读性。
分别使用“深静脉血栓形成”和“深静脉血栓形成”在英文和西班牙文进行谷歌搜索。记录每个搜索的前 25 个面向患者的结果，并按来源类型（医院、专业协会、其他）进行分类。使用几种量表测量英文 OPEM 的可读性，包括弗莱什阅读舒适度公式和弗莱什-金凯德年级水平。使用费尔南德斯-胡尔塔指数和 INFLESZ 量表测量西班牙文 OPEM 的可读性。比较可读性与 AMA 建议、语言之间以及来源类型之间的差异。
只有一篇（4%）西班牙文 OPEM 写作水平容易，而 7 篇（28%）英文 OPEM 则较难（P=0.04）。更多的英文（28%）OPEM 比西班牙语（4%）更容易阅读，两种语言的阅读难度分布有显著差异（P=0.04）。所有量表上的英文和西班牙文 OPEM 的平均可读性评分均明显高于推荐水平（P<0.01）。只有 4 篇文章（8%）符合 AMA 建议，英文和西班牙文 OPEM 之间无显著差异（P=0.61）。
分析的几乎所有英文和西班牙文深静脉血栓形成 OPEM 的阅读水平均高于推荐水平。与西班牙语相比，英语资源的整体可读性更容易，这可能是护理的障碍。为了减少健康差距，信息应以可访问的阅读水平呈现。
