Dados do Trabalho

Título

QUALITY AND READABILITY OF ONLINE INFORMATION ON KERATOCONUS IN PORTUGAL AND BRAZIL

Objetivo

Keratoconus is the most common primary corneal ectasia. Nowadays, patients turn to the internet for answers to their expectations in diagnosis, treatment and prognosis. However, webpages are not filtered or submitted to evaluation and quality control before getting published. We aim to evaluate the quality and readability of the online information available for patients regarding keratoconus in Portugal and in Brazil.

Método

Two independent ophthalmologists and one ophthalmologist supervisor evaluated 30 Portuguese and 30 Brazilian websites from a Google search by order of appearance with the word “Queratocone” and “Ceratocone”, respectively. Two quality scores were used: a quality index of consumer health information (DISCERN) and the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) benchmark, as well as the presence of a quality seal. Readability was also evaluated with 3 readability scores: FleschKincaid Reading Ease (FRE), FleschKincaid Grade (FKG) and Automated Readability Index (ARI).

Resultados

Sites from private hospitals or clinics were the most prevalent in both countries, followed by health platform sites. The average final JAMA benchmark score was 1.13±1.18 in Portugal and 1.07±1.00. The average final DISCERN score was 34.07±11.71 in Portugal and 38.17±10.51. FRE and FKG scores denoted “difficult to read” and “college school level” when evaluating readability in both countries; ARI denoted “professor” level in Portugal and a level between “12th grade” and “college student” in Brazil was needed to understand the text; this difference was statistically significant. Ten Portuguese sites (33.33%) exhibited some kind of quality seal and these did not show statistically significant better readability or quality scores. In a global way, there was no apparent correlation between google ranking and quality and readability scores.

Conclusões

The information on keratoconus that is available online to Portuguese speaking patients is, overall, of poor quality and difficult to interpret. Physicians need to be aware that some patients might fully trust their own online research. Ophthalmologists have a shared responsibility to tackle this challenge through multifold efforts, cooperating with different entities and resources to improve the information that is available online and educating our patients on how to find reputable websites that can help them navigate their life with keratoconus.

Palavras Chave

Keratoconus, online information, quality scores, readability