ArticleHand (New York, N.Y.)2015
Patient education for carpal tunnel syndrome: analysis of readability.
Article in Hand (New York, N.Y.), 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed.
- Comparative Analysis of Readability Levels of Hand Surgery Patient Information on the ASSH Website and Artificial Intelligence.Hand (New York, N.Y.) · 2026Article
- A Readability Analysis of Online Patient Education Materials Regarding Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography.Digestive diseases and sciences · 2026Article
- Assessing the Readability, Quality, and Reliability of Online Patient Information Materials Related to Sarcopenia.Cureus · 2025Article
- Readability assessment of patient education materials on autonomic dysreflexia.The journal of spinal cord medicine · 2025Article
- Changes in Health Education Literacy After Structured Web-Based Education Versus Self-Directed Online Information Seeking in Patients Undergoing Carpal Tunnel Release Surgery: Nonrandomized, Controlled Study.JMIR formative research · 2025Article
- Carpal Tunnel Surgery: Can Patients Read, Understand, and Act on Online Educational Resources?The Iowa orthopaedic journal · 2024Article
- Article
- The Usefulness of Instagram Posts Tagging Hand Surgery Conditions.Journal of hand and microsurgery · 2022Article
- Comparing Diagnostic and Treatment Recommendations of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Available on the Internet With AAOS Clinical Practice Guidelines.Hand (New York, N.Y.) · 2020Article
- Kienböck Disease: Quality, Accuracy, and Readability of Online Information.Hand (New York, N.Y.) · 2020Article
- Readability of Healthcare Literature for Gastroparesis and Evaluation of Medical Terminology in Reading Difficulty.Gastroenterology research · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe 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.
methodsA 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.
resultsPatient 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.
conclusionsOnline 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.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.