Muacevic A, Adler JR, Perez J, Wordekemper BE, Fu D, Colvin A, Deibert CM. Online Health Information for Penile Prosthesis Implants Lacks Quality and Is Unreadable to the Average US Patient.
Cureus 2023;
15:e34240. [PMID:
36852349 PMCID:
PMC9964715 DOI:
10.7759/cureus.34240]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/26/2023] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Online health information (OHI) has become widely accessible and affects patient decisions regarding their healthcare. The purpose of this study was to assess the readability, quality, and accuracy of information available to patients online about penile prosthesis implants (PPIs).
METHODS
We performed a Google search using the keywords "penile implant" and "penile prosthesis." The first 30 search results for both terms were analyzed, and advertisements, news articles, duplicates, and videos were excluded. Websites were categorized as institutional, commercial, and personal/patient support. Readability of each website was determined using the Flesch-Kincaid grade level (FKGL) readability formula within the readable tool. Quality was measured by Health On the Net (HON) certification status and the DISCERN scoring method. For website accuracy, a score of 1-4 (1=0-25%, 2=25-50%, 3=50-75%, and 4=75-100%) was assigned.
RESULTS
Forty-four websites met the criteria (23 institutional, 12 commercial, and 9 personal/patient support). The mean total FKGL score was 9.55. No statistical difference was detected between mean FKGL for each website category (p=0.69). Only eight websites (18%) scored ≤8th-grade reading level (average US adult level), while 36 (82%) were >8th-grade level. Mean total DISCERN sum score was 39.74/75, with no statistical difference in mean DISCERN score between website types (p=0.08). Over half (55%) of the websites were defined as "very poor" or "poor" quality by DISCERN scoring. Mean total overall quality rating was 2.67/5. HON certification was verified for only nine websites (20%). Twenty-five percent of websites were classified as 0-25% accurate, 23% were 25-50% accurate, 30% were 50-75% accurate, and 23% were 75-100% accurate.
CONCLUSION
Most information on the Internet about PPIs is reasonably accurate; however, the majority of websites are deficient in quality and unreadable to the average patient, irrespective of website type.
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