Naloxone Online Information Exceeds the Recommended Reading Level for Patient Education Materials

The opioid epidemic claimed 68,630 lives in 2020 in the United States. It reached record levels during the COVID-19 pandemic. Public comprehension of naloxone, the reversal agent for opioid overdoses, is necessary for its broad uptake and the prevention of opioid-related deaths. This study assesses whether online patient education materials for naloxone meet national readability guidelines. It further compares the readability of naloxone materials to that of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) materials, given that the latter is an established and widespread life-saving procedure.

We searched Google in March 2022 for three terms: "naloxone," "Narcan," and "CPR." The top 15 websites for each term were retrieved, processed, and inputted into a readability calculator to generate six validated reading scale scores. Statistical analyses were performed to compare the readability of naloxone/Narcan online information against national standards and the readability of CPR online information.

The average readability of naloxone/Narcan websites was grade 11.2 ± 2.3, and none of the websites met the recommended sixth-grade reading level for patient education materials. In comparison, the average readability of CPR websites was 7.8 ± 1.5. Of the naloxone/Narcan websites, only 17% (4/24) had a readability at or below the eighth-grade level, the average reading level of U.S. adults. In comparison, 80% (12/15) of the CPR websites had a readability at or below the eighth-grade level.

Naloxone online information exceeds the recommended reading level and that of CPR materials. Online information about naloxone should be simplified to broaden educational access to this life-saving medication.