Evaluating the Quality and Readability of Internet Information on Meningiomas

Abstract

Background: The Internet is a highly powerful resource for patients and provides an extensive amount of information on medical conditions. It is therefore important that the information accessible is accurate, up to date, and at an appropriate comprehensive level for the general public. This article aims to evaluate the quality of patient information on meningiomas.

Methods: The term meningioma was searched using the following search engines: Google, Bing, Yahoo, Ask, and AOL. The top 100 meningioma Web sites were analyzed for readability using the Flesch Reading Ease score and the Flesch-Kincaid grade level. The quality of each Web page was assessed with the DISCERN instrument and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Clear Communication Index (CCI).

Results: The quality of information on the Internet on meningiomas is highly variable. The overall mean Flesch Reading Ease score was 43.1 (standard deviation = 13.3) and the mean Flesch-Kincaid grade of all the Web sites was 11.2 (standard deviation = 2.3). This finding suggests that the information is on average difficult to read. Only one Web site was at the recommended seventh-grade level and the remainder were above this grade. Only one third of the Web pages had Health On the Net Code of Conduct or The Information Standard certification and were found to be significantly of higher quality: DISCERN (P = 0.022) and CDC CCI (P = 0.027). More than 50% of the Web sites had significantly poor or average DISCERN scores and only 2 Web sites fulfilled the CDC CCI criteria.

Conclusions: It is recommended that clinicians personally research material for their patients to be able to guide them to reliable and accurate Web sites. It is also encouraged to become Health On the Net Code of Conduct/The Information Standard certified because this may indicate information of high quality. In addition, it is also recommended that authors of existing information assess the quality of their online health information against the CDC CCI criteria.

Keywords: Internet information; Meningioma; Patient.