A systematic review of internet-based information for individuals with Raynaud's phenomenon and patients with systemic sclerosis

Introduction Patients are increasingly using internet-based information to inform healthcare utilization and treatment decisions. Our aim was to examine the quality and readability of internet-based information relating to Raynaud's phenomenon (RP) and systemic sclerosis (SSc). Material and methods A systematic review of three commonly used search engines (Google (R), Yahoo (R), and Bing (R)) using the terms "Raynaud's phenomenon" and "systemic sclerosis" separately. The first 30 websites per search engine were examined. Quality was assessed using the DISCERN questionnaire and readability by the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, SMOG Index, Coleman-Liau index, and Flesch Reading Ease score. Results Fifty-two studies (30 RP and 22 SSc) were included after duplicates and exclusion criteria were applied. The overall quality of information was low for both SSc and RP (1.99 & 2.21), including in relation to reliability of the literature and information on treatment choices. Readability for RP and SSc was also poor (i.e., the texts were difficult to read) across all of the four methods examined. Conclusion Overall, RP and SSc internet-based information is of low quality and inadequate readability. The RP and SSc international community should strongly consider developing an information standard for internet-based resources for healthcare users.