O070 An assessment of information available online for the public regarding aortic dissection

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Objective To assess the quality of information provided by open access websites regarding aortic dissections on the World Wide Web. Methods The first 50 results from Yahoo, Bing and Google were collected using the search term ‘aortic dissection’ and duplicates removed. Website quality was scored using the University of Michigan Consumer Health Website tool (maximum score 80). Website readability was assessed using the Flesch Reading Ease score (maximum score 100) and Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG) score (years of education needed). Subjective assessment was undertaken to assess the quality of website content. Results 39 of 75 websites were included for analysis after applying the exclusion criteria. 94.9% of websites did not specify the type of aortic dissection discussed. Most websites were weak, with an average Michigan score of 48.89 (SD ±8.09). Sources published by non-profit organizations were of the lowest quality (mean score = 44.69 SD ± 5.85). Most websites were rated as ‘fairly difficult’ to read, with an overall mean FRE score of 58.92 (SD ± 28.03). Websites aimed at medical trainees had lowest readability (mean = 38.87, SD ±15.36). Websites published by non-profit organisations required the least years of education to read, with mean SMOG score of 10.93 (SD ±3.12). Conclusion Current online websites providing education to the public and professionals regarding aortic dissections are difficult to read, with a poor consistency and reliability between publishing organizations. Efforts must be made to produce high-quality, standardised information, to facilitate patient awareness and decision-making autonomy.