ArticleEuropean archives of oto-rhino-laryngology : official journal of the European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology - Head and Neck Surgery2025
Readability, understandability, and quality of online education materials and large language models for retrograde cricopharyngeal muscle dysfunction.
Article in European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology : official journal of the European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 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
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Comment on "Readability, understandability, and quality of online education materials and large language models for retrograde cricopharyngeal muscle dysfunction".European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology : official journal of the European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology - Head and Neck Surgery · 2026Article
- In reply to the letter to the editor regarding "Readability, understandability, and quality of online education materials and large language models for retrograde cricopharyngeal muscle dysfunction".European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology : official journal of the European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology - Head and Neck Surgery · 2026Article
- A cross-sectional evaluation of large language model chatbot interfaces for patient-facing herpes zoster information: safety, information quality, and readability.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Performance of large language models in reporting oral health concerns and side effects in head and neck cancer: a comparative study.Journal of cancer research and clinical oncology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveThis study aims to evaluate online patient education materials on retrograde cricopharyngeal dysfunction (RCPD) by comparing the readability, understandability, and quality of content generated by large language models (LLM).
methodA web search in December 2024 evaluated 51 online resources and four LLMs (ChatGPT 4.0, Gemini 1.5 Flash, Perplexity GPT-3.5, DeepSeek-V2.5). Readability was analyzed using Readable.io, understandability actionability was assessed using PEMAT, and information quality was assessed using DISCERN.
resultsThe average readability level of the online material and the LLM responses was at the 11th-12th grade level. The Flesch Reading Ease score was lowest for the LLMs, especially for the DeepSeek-V2.5 model (24.21). While PEMAT understandability scores were adequate for online (82%) and LLMs (79%), actionability was low across all groups (25-37%). DISCERN analyses showed that both sources of information were of limited quality in supporting treatment decisions.
conclusionThis study revealed that both online and LLM-generated materials on RCPD exceeded the recommended readability levels. Although the materials demonstrated acceptable understandability, they exhibited low actionability and inadequate overall quality, emphasizing the need for more patient-centered digital health communication.
Indexed as
Identifiers
40802099What 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.