In a new era of digital and consumer-driven healthcare hospitals and doctors are giving patients access to lots of information online. But if the information is too complex for a patient to understand, the results hurtsnot helpsthe patient, says a Harvard Medical School pancreatic surgeon and researcher.

Dr. Tara Kent, a surgeon at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and an assistant professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School, and a team of researchers recently analyzed 50 healthcare information portals and web sites to determine the complexity of the information presented regarding pancreatic cancer and related treatment.

What researchers found was that while there was plenty of information to be easily found online it was too complex for many patients to understand. Researchers also found that some of the information on alternative treatments was inaccurate or misleading. People are strongly influenced by what they read online, and they believe that what they read on the internet will help them make better health care decisions, Kent says. The concern here is that available web information may, in fact, be adding to existing barriers to care because If patients dont understand what theyre reading, how can they make the best decisions about treatment options?

The researchers looked at the 50 healthcare sites operated by various healthcare and government institutions and analyzed information for pancreatic cancer and various methods of treatment such as alternative therapy, chemotherapy, clinical trials, radiation and surgery. The researchers then ranked each of the 50 sites on the level of reading aptitude needed to understand the information on each site.

Many patients read primarily at a sixth or seventh grade level, Kent says. But the majority of sites the Beth Israel and Harvard Medical team analyzed displayed content that required the reading level of a first-year college student. We found that the median readability level was higher than recommended, requiring at least 13 years of education to be comprehended. But only 58% of the adult U.S. population has attained this level of education, Kent says. The online information about pancreatic cancer is geared to more educated groups and the general population and vulnerable groups with low health literacy will likely struggle to understand this information.

Kent says many literacy experts advise hospitals to post information based on a junior high school reading level. But the complexityand accuracyof the cancer information presented on the 50 web sites analyzed were mixed, she says. For example, the web sites of nonprofit organizations were easier to read than media and academic sites, especially for the comprehension and accuracy of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation information. Nonprofit, academic, and government web sites had the highest accuracy, particularly those relating to clinical trials and radiotherapy, Kent says. Alternative therapy websites exhibited the lowest accuracy scores, but web sites with higher accuracy were more difficult to read than sites with lower accuracy. Alternative therapies for treatment of pancreatic cancer includes visualization techniques, meditation, prayer, acupuncture, massage, biofeedback and relaxation.

Some healthcare organizations, including Beth Israel, are hiring internet librarians or other content specialists to write and edit complex healthcare information in a format most patients can understand. But its up to healthcare professionals to help patients navigate the often complex information they find online. Healthcare professionals should acknowledge that online information on aggressive diseases such as pancreatic cancer could be misleading and potentially harmful, and they should assume an active role in the evaluation and recommendation of online resources, Kent says.

With even more healthcare information likely to become available online as consumer-driven healthcare becomes more mainstream, keeping complex medical information understandable and actionable for patients should become a priority for healthcare organizations, Kent says. Dealing with a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer is difficult enough without asking patients to negotiate PhD-level terms, she says.