Readability of the SEACV informed consent documents

Introduction and objectives: To evaluate the readability of the Informed Consent (IC) documents published the Spanish Society of Angiology and Vascular Surgery (SEACV) in 2007. Methods: The following parameters were obtained: words, syllables, sentences, average syllables/word, Flesch or word correlation index, Flesch-Szigriszt index, Fernandez Huerta index, grade on the Inflesz scale and Gunning-Fog index. The different CI groups were compared, as well as those on endovascular procedures and those on open surgery. Results: The Flesch index classified them as "very difficult''. The Flesch-Szigriszt and Fernandez-Huerta found the consent documents to be of "normal'' comprehension. The most frequent grade on the Inflesz scale was "normal'', except 15 with "quite difficult'' (femoro-femoral bypass, axillo-femoral or bifemoral bypass, popliteal aneurysm surgery, all the venous procedures, amputations, vascular access with prosthesis, and acute limb ischaemia surgery). The document on denying consent was the only document considered "quite easy''. There were no significant differences in readability between the different groups, except with the group associated with venous pathology. There were only differences in the grade on the Inflesz scale (P =.0001) between those that referred to endovascular procedures and those that did not. Conclusions: The readability of the IC documents published by SEACV need to be improved, particularly those referring to venous pathology. As well as monitoring the readability of the existing ICs, their contents should be updated and complete using new documents on current standard procedures. (C) 2011 SEACV. Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L. All rights reserved.