Comparison of the readability of consumer health information on the internet

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to compare the readability of internet health information intended for consumers found on government-funded websites (e.g. sites with a “.gov” suffix) versus that found on commercially-funded websites (e.g. sites with a “.com” suffix). Methods: Consumer health websites were identified through a systematic internet search. Webpages for ten common health topics were extracted from each website. Readability of webpages was determined by three validated measures: Flesch Reading Ease, Flesch-Kincaid Reading Level, and SMOG Formula. Mean readability of government-funded and commercially-funded websites was compared using the Mann-Whitney U test. Results: Commercially-funded websites were significantly more difficult to read as measured by Flesch Reading Ease (49.7 vs. 55.6 for government-funded sites, p=0.002) and Flesch-Kincaid Reading Level (10.1 vs. 9.3, p=0.012). There was no significant difference according to SMOG Grading (12.8 vs. 13.2, p=0.150). Conclusions: Commercially-funded websites, on average, were more difficult to read than government-funded websites. However, the overall readability of internet health information intended for consumers was poor. Efforts should be made to ensure that health information posted on the internet is easy for consumers to read and understand.