Evaluation of accuracy, reliability, quality, and readability of online patient information materials on coccyx injury

The aim of this research is to evaluate the websites containing “coccydynia, coccyx trauma or fracture” in terms of readability, reliability, accuracy, and quality. Searches for “coccydynia, coccyx trauma, coccyx fracture” were carried out in the 3 most used search engines in the USA: Google, Yahoo, and Bing in February 2022. A total of 141 websites were rated by 2 different neurosurgeons for the “Global Quality Score” and “Alexa Popularity Rank.” 97.2% of the sites examined include the definition of the disease, 66% include the importance of the disease, 92.9% include the symptoms of the disease, 88.7% include the treatment of the disease, 78% include the signs of the disease, 77.3% include the mechanism of the disease It has been determined that the websites examined within the scope of the research have high global quality score (GQS) and APR and are enriched with images to a large extent. Abbreviations: APR = Alexa popularity rank, ARI = automated readability index, CLI = Coleman-Liau Index, FKGL = FleschKincaid Grade Level, FRES = Flesch reading ease, GQS = global quality score, Gunning FOG = Gunning Fog Index, LWF = Linsear Write Formula, SMOG = simple measure of gobbledygook