ArticleBMC public health2020
Readability of online COVID-19 health information: a comparison between four English speaking countries.
Article in BMC public health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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
27 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Quality of web-based information about the coronavirus disease 2019: a rapid systematic review of infodemiology studies published during the first year of the pandemic.BMC public health · 2022Pooled it
- Evaluating the Readability, Accessibility, and Quality of Online Health Information on Opioid Use Disorder: A Comparative Analysis of Government and Non-Government Websites.Advances in health information science and practice · 2026Article
- The good, the bad, and the ugly: A qualitative evaluation of web-based COVID-19 vaccine communication in Canada.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2025Article
- What Large Language Models offer about Familial Mediterranean Fever: An Analysis of Quality, Readability, Completeness, and Accuracy.Mediterranean journal of rheumatology · 2025Article
- Evaluating Theory-Driven Messaging to Overcome the Barriers to Meditation: Large-Scale Digital Field Experiment.JMIR mental health · 2025Article
- Lessons to be learned when designing comprehensible patient-oriented online information about temporomandibular disorders.Journal of oral rehabilitation · 2025Article
- Assessment of the Quality and Readability of Online Resources on Corneal Transplantation.Cureus · 2024Article
- Accessibility and readability of online patient education on cutaneous lymphomas.JAAD international · 2023Article
- The Readability and Quality of Web-Based Patient Information on Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma: Quantitative Content Analysis.JMIR formative research · 2023Article
- Evaluating understandability and actionability of online education materials for home-care patients with COVID-19 in Japan.BMC research notes · 2023Article
- Readability and beyond - Health literacy and numeracy and COVID-19 communications in early childhood education: Are we communicating effectively?Patient education and counseling · 2023Article
- Readability of online health information pertaining to migraine and headache in the UK.British journal of pain · 2023Article
- Assessment of App Store Description and Privacy Policy to Explore Ethical and Safety Concerns Associated with the Use of Mental Health Apps for Depression.Indian journal of psychological medicine · 2023Article
- Accessibility of State and Territory Public Health Department Website Information on COVID-19 Outpatient Treatments in the US.JAMA network open · 2023Article
- Readability and topics of the German Health Web: Exploratory study and text analysis.PloS one · 2023Article
- Article
- Evaluation of an online text simplification editor using manual and automated metrics for perceived and actual text difficulty.JAMIA open · 2022Article
- Readability, understandability and language accessibility of Swedish websites about the coronavirus disease 2019: a cross-sectional study.BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2022Article
- Comparison of innovative communication approaches in nutrition to promote and improve health literacy.The Ulster medical journal · 2022Review
- Factors influencing fake news rebuttal acceptance during the COVID-19 pandemic and the moderating effect of cognitive ability.Computers in human behavior · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe internet is now the first line source of health information for many people worldwide. In the current Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic, health information is being produced, revised, updated and disseminated at an increasingly rapid rate. The general public are faced with a plethora of misinformation regarding COVID-19 and the readability of online information has an impact on their understanding of the disease. The accessibility of online healthcare information relating to COVID-19 is unknown. We sought to evaluate the readability of online information relating to COVID-19 in four English speaking regions: Ireland, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States, and compare readability of website source provenance and regional origin.
methodsThe Google® search engine was used to collate the first 20 webpage URLs for three individual searches for 'COVID', 'COVID-19', and 'coronavirus' from Ireland, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States. The Gunning Fog Index (GFI), Flesch-Kincaid Grade (FKG) Score, Flesch Reading Ease Score (FRES), Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG) score were calculated to assess the readability.
resultsThere were poor levels of readability webpages reviewed, with only 17.2% of webpages at a universally readable level. There was a significant difference in readability between the different webpages based on their information source (p < 0.01). Public Health organisations and Government organisations provided the most readable COVID-19 material, while digital media sources were significantly less readable. There were no significant differences in readability between regions.
conclusionMuch of the general public have relied on online information during the pandemic. Information on COVID-19 should be made more readable, and those writing webpages and information tools should ensure universal accessibility is considered in their production. Governments and healthcare practitioners should have an awareness of the online sources of information available, and ensure that readability of our own productions is at a universally readable level which will increase understanding and adherence to health guidelines.
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.