Analyzing the Quality and Readability of Online Hyaluronic Acid Knee Injection Resources

Introduction: We analyzed the quality of information about Hyaluronic acid (HA) knee injections for osteoarthritis using DISCERN, a tool that grades the quality of websites. We also analyzed readability with Flesch-Kincaid grade reading levels (FKGRL). Methods: Lists of the top ten included sites from Google searches about HA injections were evaluated using DISCERN to determine their quality. Additional variables collected were site category, Health on Net (HON) certification, search result rank, and FKGRL. DISCERN scores were compared and grouped by these variables. Results: Most sites were measured as fair in quality. Greater DISCERN scores were produced from searches using general terminology, sites with HON labels, and academic journal publications. Conclusion: This study indicates information quality for HA injections online is fair. The data also indicates that patients can best educate themselves using HON labels, general search terms, and information from academic journals when possible.