Readability of Patient Educational Materials in Sports Medicine

Abstract

Background: The internet has become an increasingly popular resource among sports medicine patients seeking injury-related information. Numerous organizations recommend that patient educational materials (PEMs) should not exceed sixth-grade reading level. Despite this, studies have consistently shown the reading grade level (RGL) of PEMs to be too demanding across a range of surgical specialties. Purpose: To determine the readability of online sports medicine PEMs. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Methods: The readability of 363 articles pertaining to sports medicine from 5 leading North American websites was assessed using 8 readability formulas: Flesch-Kincaid Reading Grade Level, Flesch Reading Ease Score, Raygor Estimate, Fry Readability Formula, Simple Measure of Gobbledygook, Coleman-Liau Index, FORCAST Readability Formula, and Gunning Fog Index. The mean RGL of each article was compared with the sixth- and eighth-grade reading level in the United States. The cumulative mean website RGL was also compared among individual websites. Results: The overall cumulative mean RGL was 12.2 (range, 7.0-17.7). No article (0%) was written at a sixth-grade reading level, and only 3 articles (0.8%) were written at or below the eighth-grade reading level. The overall cumulative mean RGL was significantly higher than the sixth-grade [95% CI for the difference, 6.0-6.5; P