Assessing Online Patient Education Readability for Spine Surgery Procedures

Area of Science:

• Spine surgery patient education
• Health literacy research
• Medical communication

Background:

• Patient reliance on online health information necessitates clear, accessible patient education materials.
• Professional organizations recommend a 4th-6th grade reading level for spine fusion articles to enhance patient comprehension.
• Improved comprehension may lead to better postoperative outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the readability of online patient education materials for anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) and lumbar fusion.
• To compare readability across different types of online health information providers.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative analysis of online health education resources.
• Searched for patient education articles on common cervical and lumbar spine fusion procedures using three search engines.
• Analyzed article readability using Readability Studio software, comparing mean scores across General Medical Websites (GMW), Healthcare Network/Academic Institutions (HNAI), and Private Practices (PP) using ANOVA.

Main Results:

• Articles on ACDF and lumbar fusion had mean readability scores of 10.7 and 11.3, respectively.
• Readability scores across GMW, HNAI, and PP subgroups were consistently above the recommended 7th-grade level.
• Only 6 out of 310 articles (approximately 1.9%) met the recommended comprehension level.

Conclusions:

• Online patient education articles for ACDF and lumbar fusion are written at a reading level significantly higher than recommended guidelines.
• Revision of current online literature is necessary to align with the average U.S. reading level.
• Accessible patient education can potentially improve patient comprehension and postoperative results.