Veterinary allergy information has lower health readability than human allergy information: a comparative analysis of allergy education materials for pets and people.

Abstract

Pet owners frequently consult online sources of veterinary health information. However, there are limited data on the readability of these resources and whether the readability is appropriate for pet owner education levels. To evaluate the education level of the US pet-owning population, and determine the readability of pet allergy information and compare the readability of online pet allergy information with online human allergy information. A subpopulation of 4,933 adults, representative of a population of 208,525,282, answering National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) demographic and pet questions. Allergy information in 54 articles (28 veterinary, 26 human) from six health websites (three veterinary, three human). An analysis was performed on 10,294 NHANES questionnaire responses to identify the subpopulation of 4,933 pet-owning adults. Flesch Reading Ease Scores and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Scores were calculated on the pet and human allergy information to evaluate readability. The age-adjusted prevalence of high school graduation was higher for adults with pets (85.8±1.33%) compared to adults without pets (78.5±1.5%, P<0.0001). Allergy information on veterinary websites was more difficult to read (P=0.0052) and written at a higher grade level (P=0.0047) than that on human health websites. The average veterinary health information readability score was 45.9 ± 8.7 ("difficult to read") and written at an 11th grade level or above (range: 8th grade-college level). Allergy information on veterinary websites was less readable than allergy information on human health websites. Online veterinary information may be written at a reading level that is inappropriate for pet owners.