Readability and quality of online information regarding dental treatment for patients with ischaemic heart disease

Abstract

Background: Healthcare information is increasingly being sought on the Internet. Ischaemic Heart Disease (IHD) poses a significant health burden. Concern often arises for patients with IHD when undergoing dental treatment leading to online searching for relevant healthcare information.Objective: To evaluate the readability and quality of webpages regarding IHD and dental treatment.Materials and methods: Three searches were performed on the Google search engine. The first 100 results of each search were collated, and exclusion criteria applied. The remaining 66 webpages were categorised. Readability was assessed using the FRES and SMOG readability tools. Quality was assessed using the PEMAT questionnaire, the JAMA benchmarks and the Health on the Net (HON) seal.Results: Most examined webpages were commercial. Readability of 90.1% of webpages was deemed fairly to very difficult. Understandability and actionability scores were generally below the comprehension level of the general population. Less than 50% of websites achieved the authorship, attribution and disclosure JAMA benchmarks. Only 12.1% of websites displayed the HON seal.Conclusions: Online health information related to IHD and dental treatment is generally too difficult for the average individual to read, understand, or act upon; and may be of questionable quality. Given the low health literacy rates amongst the general population, future revisions of educational materials by non-commercial sources regarding IHD and dental treatment are warranted to ensure online health information is understandable and of genuine benefit to patients and/or their carers.

Quality and readability of web-based Arabic health information on periodontal disease

“…Since this study was the first assessing the readability of written content on periodontal disease, it is difficult to compare the results with the available literature. Although our results indicated simply written and easy to read content, this finding is inconsistent with the results on web-based English information on halitosis [32], dental treatment for patients with ischemic heart disease [33], and dental implants [34].…”

The quality and readability of online molar incisor hypomineralization patient education materials: a systematic analysis

“…No website displayed the seal in the present study. The presence of the seal has been found to be limited in similar studies investigating a wide range of oral conditions and treatment modalities 5,6,12,13 . The lack of awareness regarding the seal’s existence among website publishers, healthcare professionals and the public might help to explain its absence in the assessed websites in the surveyed websites 12 …”

“…It is important, therefore, to ensure that written health information on the Internet is easy to read in addition to being reliable. This is likely to result in patients and their families being able to understand and act upon any presented health information 12 . The quality and readability of online information related to many oral conditions, appliances and treatments, has, however, been generally found to be deficient 3,5,6,12–14 …”

“…This is likely to result in patients and their families being able to understand and act upon any presented health information. 12 The quality and readability of online information related to many oral conditions, appliances and treatments, has, however, been generally found to be deficient. 3,5,6,[12][13][14] There appears to have been little research into the quality of online information in relation to MIH.…”

Automatic Diagnosis of Mental Healthcare Information Actionability: Developing Binary Classifiers

“…Information readability and actionability form two key factors of the effectiveness of patient-oriented healthcare information [1][2][3][4][5]. Many current online healthcare information quality evaluations focus on readability assessment.…”