Patient education for carpal tunnel syndrome: analysis of readability

Hand : Official Journal of the American Association for Hand Surgery
Kyle R EberlinBernard T Lee

Abstract

The National Institutes of Health and American Medical Association recommend a sixth grade reading level for patient-directed content. This study aims to quantitatively evaluate the readability of the most commonly used resources for surgical treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome. A web search for "carpal tunnel surgery" was performed using an Internet search engine, and the 13 most popular sites were identified. Relevant, patient-directed articles immediately accessible from the main site were downloaded and formatted into plain text. A total of 102 articles were assessed for readability using ten established analyses: first overall, then by website for comparison. Patient information about carpal tunnel surgery had an overall average reading level of 13.1. Secondary analysis by website revealed a range of mean readability from 10.8 (high school sophomore level) to 15.3 (university junior level). All sites exceeded the recommended sixth grade reading level. Online patient resources for carpal tunnel surgery uniformly exceed the recommended reading level. These are too difficult to be understood by a large portion of American adults. A better understanding of readability may be useful in tailoring more appropriate resources for a...Continue Reading

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Citations

Feb 20, 2015·Annals of Plastic Surgery·Christina R VargasBernard T Lee
Jun 14, 2016·The Journal of Hand Surgery·Kristie HaddenTheresa O Wyrick
Mar 15, 2018·Annals of Plastic Surgery·Andres F DovalBernard T Lee
Oct 15, 2019·Vascular and Endovascular Surgery·Benjamin B ScottBernard T Lee
Jul 18, 2020·Foot & Ankle Specialist·Peter C NobackJ Turner Vosseller
Oct 20, 2015·Melanoma Research·Ahmed M S IbrahimBernard T Lee
Dec 18, 2018·Hand : Official Journal of the American Association for Hand Surgery·Peter C NobackMelvin P Rosenwasser
Feb 8, 2019·Annals of Plastic Surgery·Anna Rose JohnsonDhruv Singhal

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Software Mentioned

Readability Studio Professional Edition
Word
Oleander
FORCAST
Raygor
Bing
Raygor Estimate

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