Assessment of the Quality and Readability of Online Resources on Corneal Transplantation.

Purpose: The aim of this study is to evaluate the quality and readability of corneal transplant websites.
Methods:  We examined internet resources related to corneal transplantation. The search terms "cornea transplantation," "keratoplasty," "keratoprothesis," and "eye transplantation" were searched on www.google.com. A total of 200 websites were scanned, with 50 websites for each search term. In the final evaluation, 113 websites were included in the study. DISCERN and the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) scales were used to evaluate the websites' quality. The Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL) and Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG) were used to evaluate the readability of the information. The presence of the Health On the Net Foundation Code of Conduct (HONCode) certification on websites was examined in terms of quality.
Results: The total DISCERN score was 42.47 ± 17.06, and the score for the JAMA was 1.58 ± 1.52. The FKGL and SMOG scores were found to be 9.19 ± 2.08 and 8.20 ± 5.23, respectively. Most of the websites we examined related to corneal transplantation were profit websites. These websites had low JAMA and DISCERN scores but relatively high readability levels. They were sites that provided low-quality information and had more financial bias and conflict of interest. Journal and book websites were found to have higher readability scores. Journal and book-sourced websites with higher FKGL and SMOG scores were more difficult to read.
Conclusion: Most of the websites exhibit financial bias, and as a result, they contain low-quality information. Online information must be more regulated for patients to easily access accurate, high-quality information.
Competing Interests: Human subjects: All authors have confirmed that this study did not involve human participants or tissue. Animal subjects: All authors have confirmed that this study did not involve animal subjects or tissue. Conflicts of interest: In compliance with the ICMJE uniform disclosure form, all authors declare the following: Payment/services info: All authors have declared that no financial support was received from any organization for the submitted work. Financial relationships: All authors have declared that they have no financial relationships at present or within the previous three years with any organizations that might have an interest in the submitted work. Other relationships: All authors have declared that there are no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.
(Copyright © 2024, Mesen et al.)