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.

Keywords: Health inequalities; Information; Internet; Literacy; Multiple sclerosis; Readability.