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BACKGROUND: Osteoporosis is a prevalent metabolic bone disease in the Middle East. Middle Easterners rely on the Internet as a source of information about osteoporosis and its treatment. Adequate awareness can help to prevent osteoporosis and its complications. Websites covering osteoporosis in Arabic must be of good quality and readability to be beneficial for people in the Middle East. METHODS: Two Arabic terms for osteoporosis were searched on Google.com (Google Inc., Mountainview, CA), and the first 100 results for each term were examined for eligibility. Two independent raters evaluated the websites using DISCERN and the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) criteria for quality and reliability. The Flesch Kincaid grade level (FKGL), Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG), and Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) scale were used to evaluate the readability of each website's content. RESULTS: Twenty-five websites were included and evaluated in our study. The average DISCERN score was 28.36±12.18 out of 80 possible scores. The average JAMA score was 1.05±1.15 out of four total scores. The readability scores of all websites were, on average, 50.71±21.96 on the FRE scale, 9.25±4.89 on the FKGL, and 9.74±2.94 on the SMOG. There was a significant difference (p = 0.026 and 0.044) in the DISCERN and JAMA scores, respectively, between the websites on the first Google page and the websites seen on later pages. CONCLUSION: The study found Arabic websites covering osteoporosis to be of low quality and difficult readability. Because these websites are a major source for patient education, improving their quality and readability is a must. The use of simpler language is needed, as is covering more aspects of the diseases, such as prevention.
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BACKGROUND: Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) interfere with hormonal systems, potentially causing metabolic, reproductive, and neurological issues, as well as hormone-related cancers. Found in everyday products, EDCs accumulate in body tissues over time, with adverse effects depending on the dose and duration of exposure. This study aims to explore behaviors related to EDC exposure among Saudi citizens to assess the need for further risk reduction interventions. METHODOLOGY: This cross-sectional study employed a validated, self-administered online questionnaire to assess daily life behaviors associated with EDC exposure. A total of 563 participants were recruited using convenient sampling through online platforms. RESULTS: The study revealed that a significant majority of participants were aged 18-25 years (48.67%, n=274). On average, participants scored 32.78 out of a maximum of 60 for potential EDC exposure, with scores ranging from 13 to 54 points. The majority (85.26%, n=480) fell into the moderate potential exposure category, while a small minority (4.26%, n=24) exhibited high potential risk based on their reported daily habits, predominantly among male participants (95.83%, n=23). A significant majority (72.65%, n=409) indicated a likelihood of adopting lifestyle changes to reduce exposure to harmful substances. CONCLUSION: This study reveals diverse behavioral patterns linked to endocrine disruptor exposure among the general population in Saudi Arabia. Interestingly, the participants showed a positive attitude and willingness to change their risky behaviors. These findings underscore the necessity for educational programs and public health campaigns aimed at addressing gaps in knowledge. Encouraging the public to adopt behaviors that reduce exposure is essential to minimizing the potential long-term effects of EDCs.
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INTRODUCTION: ChatGPT (OpenAI, San Francisco, CA, USA) is a novel artificial intelligence (AI) application that is used by millions of people, and the numbers are growing by the day. Because it has the potential to be a source of patient information, the study aimed to evaluate the ability of ChatGPT to answer frequently asked questions (FAQs) about asthma with consistent reliability, acceptability, and easy readability. METHODS: We collected 30 FAQs about asthma from the Global Initiative for Asthma website. ChatGPT was asked each question twice, by two different users, to assess for consistency. The responses were evaluated by five board-certified internal medicine physicians for reliability and acceptability. The consistency of responses was determined by the differences in evaluation between the two answers to the same question. The readability of all responses was measured using the Flesch Reading Ease Scale (FRES), the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL), and the Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG). RESULTS: Sixty responses were collected for evaluation. Fifty-six (93.33%) of the responses were of good reliability. The average rating of the responses was 3.65 out of 4 total points. 78.3% (n=47) of the responses were found acceptable by the evaluators to be the only answer for an asthmatic patient. Only two (6.67%) of the 30 questions had inconsistent answers. The average readability of all responses was determined to be 33.50±14.37 on the FRES, 12.79±2.89 on the FKGL, and 13.47±2.38 on the SMOG. CONCLUSION: Compared to online websites, we found that ChatGPT can be a reliable and acceptable source of information for asthma patients in terms of information quality. However, all responses were of difficult readability, and none followed the recommended readability levels. Therefore, the readability of this AI application requires improvement to be more suitable for patients.