• World Neurosurg · Jun 2022

    Readability of Online Spine Patient Education Resources.

    • A Michael Luciani, Brian K Foster, Daniel Hayes, and Edward M DelSole.
    • Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Geisinger Medical Center, Danville, Pennsylvania. Electronic address: amluciani@geisinger.edu.
    • World Neurosurg. 2022 Jun 1; 162: e640e644e640-e644.

    ObjectiveWe assessed the readability of spine-related patient education materials on professional society websites to determine whether this had improved since last studied. We also compared the readability of these materials to a more patient-centered source, such as WebMD.MethodsPatient education pages from the American Association of Neurologic Surgeons (AANS), North American Spine Society (NASS), and spine-related pages from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), and WebMD were reviewed. Readability was evaluated using the Flesch Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL) and Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) formulas. The mean FKGL and FRE scores of the societies were compared using one-way analysis of variance. The rate of a reading level at or below an eighth grade level was compared using the χ2 test.ResultsWe analyzed a total of 156 sites. The mean FKGL score for the professional society sites was 11.4. The mean FRE score for the professional societies was 45.8, with 14.4% written at or below an eighth grade reading level. We found a significant difference in the FKGL scores and materials at or below the eighth grade level between the AAOS and AANS and AAOS and NASS. The mean FKGL and FRE scores for WebMD were 7.57 and 68.1, respectively, with a significant difference compared with the scores for the AAOS, NASS, and AANS. In addition, 80% of the WebMD materials had been written at or below the eighth grade reading level. A significant difference compared with the AANS and NASS (P < 0.0001) but not for the AAOS (P = 0.059).ConclusionsThe average readability of spine-related topics exceeded the eighth grade reading level. The AAOS resources had better readability compared with the NASS and AANS. We found no improvement in readability since last studied. The readability of professional societies' materials was significantly worse than those from WebMD.Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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