College

College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences

Department

Pharmacy Practice

Publication Date

5-26-2023

Abstract

Introduction: The Internet is often a first-line medical resource for parents seeking childhood lay medical advice. Concerns exist regard- ing readability and quality of consumer-oriented Internet drug infor- mation, particularly where readability should be aimed at a sixth grade reading level.

Research Question or Hypothesis: This study sought to assess popu- lar pediatric drug information websites for consumer-oriented read- ability and information quality. Study Design: Sample websites were identified by simulating searches on three top United States search engines using pre-identified terms. The primary outcome was website readability according to the English-language and healthcare-validated Simple Measure of Gobble- dygook (SMOG) Index. The secondary outcome was website informa- tional quality, measured using the validated DISCERN instrument. Methods: Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo were used to perform Internet searches by combining “child” with four sample search terms: “ear pain” OR “treatment” OR “medicine” OR “antibiotics.” The ten most common domains across all search engines were compiled. Four raters independently applied the SMOG Index to one web page from each domain for a total of 40 web pages to determine the primary outcome and then independently applied the DISCERN instrument to the same pages to determine the secondary outcome. Advertise- ments, videos, paywalled, or unavailable content were excluded. Results: Final analysis included 37 web pages. The SMOG Index ran- ged from 8.24 - 17.88 (median 12.07). Mean SMOG score for com- mercial web pages was 12.18±1.67, versus mean combined organizational, government, and educational score of 12.24±2.30 (p = 0.93). The median DISCERN score was 55 (interquartile range 46 – 62) with interrater reliability calculated at 0.86 (Microsoft Excel v.16.70).

Conclusion: Readability averaged at a high school reading level, which is higher than the recommended sixth grade reading level, with no dif- ference between commercial and combined organizational, govern- ment, and educational domains. Quality ranged from “fair” to “good.” Improved readability and quality control is needed for consumer- oriented drug information.

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