Disparities in the Readability and Quality of Online Patient Education Materials for Neurotoxin and Surgical Treatment of Chronic Migraine

The present study aims to evaluate the readability, content quality, and technical quality of online patient educational materials related to surgical intervention and neurotoxin treatment for chronic migraines. An online search using 10 search terms that corresponded to "surgical deactivation" or "neurotoxin treatment" was conducted. For each search term, the first 20 unique results were screened for online patient educational materials related to migraine treatment. Readability, content quality, and technical quality were assessed. Website-specific characteristics, including discussion of insurance coverage, photos, and videos were recorded. Analyses were performed across website types and between broad categories of search terms. Overall, 127 online patient educational materials were included (52% academic/hospital, 29.1% online health reference, 13.4% private practice, and 5.5% other). The average reading grade level was 10.8, which was found to be significantly higher than the AMA/NIH-recommended sixth-grade benchmark ( P <0.001). Across website types, academic/hospital websites had a higher reading level than online health reference websites (11.5 vs. 9.7, P <0.001). Online health reference websites had significantly higher content quality scores than both academic/hospital and private practice websites ( P <0.001). Notably, online patient educational materials within the "neurotoxin treatment" category were found to have a lower reading grade level (10.1 vs. 11.4) and an increased content quality score compared with those categorized within "surgical deactivation" ( P <0.05). Online patient educational materials had a significantly higher reading level than the recommended sixth-grade level. Further efforts must be made to ensure online patient educational materials related to treatments for chronic migraines are accessible.