Patient education for carpal tunnel syndrome: analysis of readability.
BACKGROUND
The National Institutes of Health and American Medical Association recommend a sixth grade reading level for patient-directed content. This study aims to quantitatively evaluate the readability of the most commonly used resources for surgical treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome.


METHODS
A web search for "carpal tunnel surgery" was performed using an Internet search engine, and the 13 most popular sites were identified. Relevant, patient-directed articles immediately accessible from the main site were downloaded and formatted into plain text. A total of 102 articles were assessed for readability using ten established analyses: first overall, then by website for comparison.


RESULTS
Patient information about carpal tunnel surgery had an overall average reading level of 13.1. Secondary analysis by website revealed a range of mean readability from 10.8 (high school sophomore level) to 15.3 (university junior level). All sites exceeded the recommended sixth grade reading level.


CONCLUSIONS
Online patient resources for carpal tunnel surgery uniformly exceed the recommended reading level. These are too difficult to be understood by a large portion of American adults. A better understanding of readability may be useful in tailoring more appropriate resources for average patient literacy.
Division of Plastic Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA USA.
Kyle R
KR
Eberlin
Division of Plastic Surgery, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA USA.
Christina R
CR
Vargas
Division of Plastic Surgery, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA USA.
Danielle J
DJ
Chuang
Division of Plastic Surgery, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA USA.
Bernard T
BT
Lee
Carpal tunnel syndrome; Health literacy; Online resources; Patient education; Readability