Assessment of available online educational resources for patients with atrial fibrillation

BACKGROUND: A diagnosis of atrial fibrillation (AF) often leads patients to search online for information, which can expose them to information of varied quality. OBJECTIVE: We conducted a qualitative systematic review of websites that contain useful information regarding AF. METHODS: The following terms were searched on 3 search engines (Google/Yahoo/Bing): (Atrial fibrillation for patients), (What is atrial fibrillation), (Atrial fibrillation patient information), (Atrial fibrillation educational resources). Inclusion criteria included websites with comprehensive AF information and information about treatment options. The Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool for Printable Materials (PEMAT-P) and PEMAT for Audiovisual Materials assessed understandability and actionability (score range 0–100). Those with a mean PEMAT-P score of >70, meaning acceptable understandability and actionability, underwent DISCERN score assessment of information content quality and reliability (score range 16–80). RESULTS: The search yielded 720 websites that underwent full review. After exclusions, 49 underwent full scoring. The mean overall PEMAT-P score was 69.3 ± 17.2. The mean PEMAT-AV score was 63.4 ± 13.6. Of the websites that scored >70% on the PEMAT-P, 23 (46%) underwent DISCERN scoring. The mean DISCERN score was 54.7 ± 4.6. CONCLUSIONS: There is a wide variation in the understandably, actionability, and quality of websites, many not providing patient-level materials. Knowledge of quality websites could provide an important adjunct for improving patients understanding of AF.