ORIGINAL ARTICLE  VENOUS DISEASE Free access

International Angiology 2022 April;41(2):149-57

DOI: 10.23736/S0392-9590.22.04741-1

Copyright © 2022 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Readability of patient educational materials in venous thrombosis: analysis of the 2021 ESVS guidelines and comparison with other medical societies information

Enrique M. SAN NORBERTO ¹ ✉, Elena GARCÍA-RIVERA ¹, Álvaro REVILLA ¹, James H. TAYLOR ², Carlos VAQUERO ¹

¹ Department of Vascular Surgery, Valladolid University Hospital, Valladolid, Spain; ² Department of Cardiac Surgery, Valencia General University Hospital, Valencia, Spain

BACKGROUND: In order for patients to comprehend health related information, it must be written at a level that can be readily understood by the intended population. During 2021 the European Society for Vascular Surgery (ESVS) published a sub-section about information for patients into its Guidelines on the Management of Venous Thrombosis.
METHODS: Nine readability measures were used to evaluate the patient educational material regarding venous thrombosis published by seven medical societies: ESVS, Society for Vascular Medicine (SVM), Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS), Vascular Society for Great Britain and Ireland (VS), Australia and New Zealand Society for Vascular Surgery (ANZSVS), Canadian Society for Vascular Surgery (CSVS) and American Heart Association (AHA).
RESULTS: The mean reading grade level (RGL) for all the 58 recommendations was 10.61 (range 6.4-14.5) and the mean Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) was 56.10 (51.3-62.9), corresponding to a “fairly difficult” reading level. The mean RGL of the ESVS recommendations (11.45, 95% CI, 9.90-13.00) was significantly higher than the others. Post-hoc analysis determined a significant difference between the ESVS and the SVS (10.86, 95% CI, 9.84-11.91) recommendations (P=0.005). All the patient’s education information published by the medical societies presented a RGL higher than recommended. The fifteen sub-sections of the information for patients included into the ESVS clinical guidelines presented a mean RGL above 9.5 points, revealing that no one (0%) was written at or below the recommended GRL. The mean FRE was 47.63 (28.2-61.6), corresponding to a “difficult” reading level.
CONCLUSIONS: Venous thrombosis patient educational materials produced by leading medical societies have readability scores that are above the recommended levels. The innovative patient’s information included into the ESVS venous thrombosis guidelines represents an important advance in the amelioration of the medical information for patients, but their readability should be improved to adapt the understanding to the general population.

KEY WORDS: Venous thrombosis; Patient education as topic; Comprehension; Guidelines as topic