Abstract
Background: The Papanicolau smear (Pap smear, Pap test) is one of the most routine of all screening tests performed in medicine. Its advent and widespread use has brought a considerable decrease in the incidence of cervical cancer. Unfortunately, this malignancy continues to convey significant morbidity and mortality. Much of this is the result of inadequate compliance with routine Pap smear screening, in which limited education is thought to play a role, particularly among ethnic minorities.
 Methods: A Google search using the phrase “pap smears” was performed and the first fourteen Uniform Resource Locators were analyzed using four standardized readability indices: the Flesh-Kinkaid Grade Level, the SMOG index, the Gunning Fog Index and the Automated Readability Index. An average grade level readability was then obtained and compared to the AMA recommendation that health care information be written at a 5th or 6th grade reading level.
 Results: The average grade level readability of the fourteen analyzed sites using four aforementioned indices were 8.86, 8.82, 11.92 and 8.35, respectfully. The total average readability after considering all four indices was 9.49, three grade levels above what the AMA has recommended.
 Conclusion: The readability of commonly accessed internet information regarding Pap smears is above what is recommended by the AMA. Physicians should be cognizant of this, particularly given this is a routine healthcare test that should be undergone by nearly fifty percent of the world’s population at various points throughout their lifetime.
Highlights
Introduced by George Papanicolaou in the first half of the 20th century, the Papanicolaou smear (Pap smear, Pap test) is an important screening method for cervical cancer.[1]
Expecting consistency with prior readability studies, the hypothesis of this work is that the grade-level readability of online material on Pap smears is written at a grade level greater than what is recommended by the American Medical Association (AMA).[20,21,22,23]
The grade-level readability of information from the popular search term “pap smear” obtained via a Google search is above what is recommended by the AMA
Summary
Introduced by George Papanicolaou in the first half of the 20th century, the Papanicolaou smear (Pap smear, Pap test) is an important screening method for cervical cancer.[1] The goal of a Pap smear is to identify cervical cells suspicious for pre-cancer or cancer.[2] To do this, a small number of cells are sampled from the patient’s cervix by a health care provider. The development and widespread use of this test has brought a considerable decrease in the incidence of cervical cancer This disease process continues to convey significant morbidity and mortality. This is important given that this routine healthcare test is recommended for nearly fifty percent of the world’s population at various points throughout their lifetime
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
