Online educational materials for appendectomy patients have good quality but poor readability

Background Guidelines recommend patient health-related information be written at or below the sixth-grade level. This study evaluates the readability level and quality of online appendectomy patient education materials. Methods Webpages were evaluated using seven readability formulae: Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL), Gunning Fog Index (GFI), Coleman-Liau Index (CLI), Automated Readability Index (ARI), Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG), Flesch Reading Ease (FRE), and New Dale-Chall (NDC). Two evaluators assessed quality using the Brief DISCERN tool. Results Thirty seven webpages were analyzed. The mean readability scores were: FKGL = 9.11, GFI = 11.82, CLI = 10.84, ARI = 7.99, SMOG = 11.88, FRE = 51.17, and NDC = 5.48. 6 of the 7 readability formulae indicate that the materials were written at too high a level. The average Brief DISCERN score was 17.81, indicating good quality. Conclusions Readability levels for online appendectomy patient education materials are higher than recommended but are of good quality. Authors of such materials should not only provide good quality information but also ensure readability.