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Assessment of readability and content of patient‐initiated google search results for epidermolysis bullosa
Author(s) -
Jia Justin L.,
Nguyen Betty,
Sarin Kavita Y.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
pediatric dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.542
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1525-1470
pISSN - 0736-8046
DOI - 10.1111/pde.13975
Subject(s) - readability , medicine , epidermolysis bullosa , dermatology , computer science , programming language
Epidermolysis bullosa describes a group of conditions commonly characterized by fragile skin and blistering of the mucosal membranes. Due to the complex and rare nature of the disease, we sought to evaluate the quality and readability of epidermolysis bullosa information available online. Analysis of the top 50 search results on Google demonstrated that information by non‐dermatologists was of a lower reading level and more accessible when compared to information by dermatologists, even though dermatologist written information was more likely to be useful and medically comprehensive. There is an increasing need for dermatologists to provide useful and medically comprehensive EB information that is accessible to patients and patient families.