title: Can people with multiple sclerosis actually understand what they read in the Internet age?
abstract: People with multiple sclerosis (MS) frequently report difficulties in finding personally relevant information on the Internet. With this in mind, the Google top-ten patient-oriented results were analysed for their overall level of readability. The most commonly visited websites required an average grade level of 11.74 ± 1.54, and an average number of years of formal education of 12.78 ± 1.82, to be easily understood. The average Flesch Reading Ease readability index is 45.26 ± 7.35, a difficult-to-read score. The high educational level required to easily understand most websites worsens health inequalities, not allowing a full participation in health information and decision making.
authors.affiliation: Multiple Sclerosis Clinical Care and Research Centre, Department of Neurosciences, Reproductive Sciences and Odontostomatology, Federico II University, Via Sergio Pansini 5, 80131 Naples, Italy. Electronic address: moccia.marcello@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Marcello
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moccia
authors.affiliation: Multiple Sclerosis Clinical Care and Research Centre, Department of Neurosciences, Reproductive Sciences and Odontostomatology, Federico II University, Via Sergio Pansini 5, 80131 Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carotenuto
authors.affiliation: Multiple Sclerosis Clinical Care and Research Centre, Department of Neurosciences, Reproductive Sciences and Odontostomatology, Federico II University, Via Sergio Pansini 5, 80131 Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Massarelli
authors.affiliation: Multiple Sclerosis Clinical Care and Research Centre, Department of Neurosciences, Reproductive Sciences and Odontostomatology, Federico II University, Via Sergio Pansini 5, 80131 Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lanzillo
authors.affiliation: Multiple Sclerosis Clinical Care and Research Centre, Department of Neurosciences, Reproductive Sciences and Odontostomatology, Federico II University, Via Sergio Pansini 5, 80131 Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Brescia Morra
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D032882:Comprehension; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D011932:Reading
keywords: Health inequalities; Information; Internet; Literacy; Multiple sclerosis; Readability