Alessandra Storino|Manuel Castillo?Angeles|Ammara A. Watkins|Christina R. Vargas|Joseph D. Mancias|Andrea J. Bullock|Aram N. Demirjian|A. James Moser|Tara S. Kent
Assessing the Accuracy and Readability of Online Health Information for Patients With Pancreatic Cancer
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center|Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center|Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center|Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center|Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center|Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center|University of California, Irvine Medical Center|Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center|Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
h3importanceh3 degree patients empowered written educational materials depends texts readability level accuracy information provided association websites affiliation focus treatment modality readability accuracy yet thoroughly elucidated h3objectiveh3 compare readability accuracy patientoriented online resources pancreatic cancer treatment modality website affiliation h3designh3 online search 50 websites discussing 5 pancreatic cancer treatment modalities alternative therapy chemotherapy clinical trials radiation therapy surgery conducted websites affiliation identified readability measured 9 standardized tests accuracy assessed expert panel h3main outcomes measuresh3 nine standardized tests used compute median readability level website median readability scores compared among treatment modality affiliation categories accuracy determined expert panel consisting 2 medical specialists 2 surgical specialists 4 raters independently evaluated websites belonging 5 treatment modalities score 1 indicates lt25 information accurate score 2 indicates 2650 information accurate score 3 indicates 5175 information accurate score 4 indicates 7699 information accurate score 5 indicates 100 information accurate h3resultsh3 50 evaluated websites differed readability accuracy based focus treatment modality websites affiliation websites discussing surgery median readability level 137 interquartile range iqr 119156 easier read discussing radiotherapy median readability level 152 iqr 130170 ipi 003 clinical trials median readability level 152 iqr 128170 ipi 002 websites nonprofit organizations median readability level 129 iqr 112150 easier read media median readability level 160 iqr 134170 ipi lt 001 academic median readability level 148 iqr 129170 ipi lt 001 websites privately owned websites median readability level 140 iqr 121161 easier read media websites ipi 001 among treatment modalities alternative therapy websites exhibited lowest accuracy scores median accuracy score 2 iqr 14 ipi lt 001 nonprofit median accuracy score 4 iqr 45 government median accuracy score 5 iqr 45 academic median accuracy score 4 iqr 355 websites accurate privately owned median accuracy score 35 iqr 154 media median accuracy score 4 iqr 24 websites ipi lt 004 websites higher accuracy difficult read websites lower accuracy h3conclusions relevanceh3 online information pancreatic cancer overestimates reading ability overall population lacks accurate information alternative therapy absence quality control internet physicians provide guidance patients selection online resources readable accurate information