METHODS: The four terms \"pulmonary nodule,\" \"radiation,\" \"low-dose CT,\" and \"lung cancer screening\" were searched on Google, and the first 20 online resources for each term were downloaded, converted into plain text, and analyzed using 10 well-established readability scales. If the websites were not written specifically for patients, they were excluded.
RESULTS: The 80 articles were written at a 12.6 ± 2.7 (mean ± SD) grade level, with grade levels ranging from 4.0 to 19.0. Of the 80 articles, 62.5% required a high school education to comprehend, and 22.6% required a college degree or higher (≥ 16th grade) to comprehend. Only 2.5% of the analyzed articles adhered to the recommendations of the National Institutes of Health and American Medical Association that patient education materials be written at a 3rd- to 7th-grade reading level.
CONCLUSIONS: Commonly visited online lung cancer screening-related patient education materials are written at a level beyond the general patient population\'s ability to comprehend and may be contributing to a knowledge gap that is inhibiting patients from improving their health literacy.