Tomczak Wojciech, Krajewski Wojciech, Grunwald Katarzyna, Chełmoński Adam, Chorbińska Joanna, Nowak Łukasz, Łaszkiewicz Jan, Gurwin Adam, Krajewska Magdalena, Małkiewicz Bartosz, Szydełko Tomasz
University Centre of Excellence in Urology, Wroclaw Medical University, Poland.
Department of Minimally Invasive and Robotic Urology, University Centre of Excellence in Urology, Wroclaw Medical University, Poland.
Cent European J Urol. 2025;78(2):221-227. doi: 10.5173/ceju.2025.0045. Epub 2025 May 26.
Urolithiasis is a prevalent condition with several etiological factors, affecting up to 20% of the population and exhibiting high recurrence rates. Its strain on healthcare systems, exacerbated by high incidence and recurrence, often results in insufficient time for thorough diagnostics and counselling. Consequently, many patients seek easily accessible online sources of information. This study aimed to assess the readability and availability of online urolithiasis materials across 24 official European languages to compare readability across different source types.
The phrase "kidney stones" was translated into all official European languages, and the first 50 search results for each language were retrieved. Non-functional websites, those requiring accounts or payments, and duplicates were excluded. Relevance was assessed using Google Translate to filter out results lacking medical information. Only patient-oriented materials were included for analysis. Obtained results were then classified by source category, and their readability was assessed using LIX formula.
A total of 723 articles were analysed. The English term yielded the highest number of results, followed by Spanish and Portuguese. Overall, the English articles performed best, being the only language with a mean LIX score below 40, which marks the threshold between "somewhat hard" and "hard" to read. Finnish, Lithuanian, and Hungarian materials had LIX scores significantly exceeding the threshold of 50, classifying them as "very hard to read" and among the most difficult to comprehend.A subgroup analysis revealed no statistically significant differences across the source classification.
Online materials on kidney stones are generally too complex for patients, limiting their understanding and treatment adherence. Simplification of patient-oriented materials along with artificial intelligence utilisation could enhance comprehension. Improved awareness may promote adherence to preventive measures and help reduce the incidence and economic burden of urolithiasis.
尿石症是一种常见疾病，有多种病因，影响着高达20%的人群，且复发率很高。其对医疗系统造成的压力因高发病率和复发率而加剧，常常导致没有足够时间进行全面诊断和咨询。因此，许多患者会寻求易于获取的在线信息来源。本研究旨在评估24种欧洲官方语言的在线尿石症资料的可读性和可获取性，以比较不同来源类型的可读性。
将“肾结石”一词翻译成所有欧洲官方语言，并检索每种语言的前50个搜索结果。排除无功能的网站、需要账户或付费的网站以及重复的网站。使用谷歌翻译评估相关性，以筛选出缺乏医学信息的结果。仅纳入以患者为导向的材料进行分析。然后将获得的结果按来源类别进行分类，并使用LIX公式评估其可读性。
共分析了723篇文章。英文词条产生的结果数量最多，其次是西班牙语和葡萄牙语。总体而言，英文文章表现最佳，是唯一平均LIX得分低于40的语言，40分是“有点难”和“难”阅读之间的阈值。芬兰语、立陶宛语和匈牙利语材料的LIX得分显著超过50分的阈值，将它们归类为“非常难读”且是最难理解的。亚组分析显示不同来源分类之间没有统计学上的显著差异。
关于肾结石的在线材料对患者来说通常过于复杂，限制了他们的理解和治疗依从性。简化以患者为导向的材料并利用人工智能可以提高理解度。提高认识可能会促进对预防措施的依从性，并有助于降低尿石症的发病率和经济负担。
