PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Alina Krasnoryadtseva
AU  - Christina Derksen
AU  - Nicola Dalbeth
AU  - Keith J.  Petrie
TI  - Not Every Picture Tells a Story: A Content Analysis of Visual Images in Patient Educational Resources About Gout
AID  - 10.3899/jrheum.191245
DP  - 2020 Mar 15
TA  - The Journal of Rheumatology
PG  - jrheum.191245
4099  - http://www.jrheum.org/content/early/2020/09/28/jrheum.191245.short
4100  - http://www.jrheum.org/content/early/2020/09/28/jrheum.191245.full
AB  - Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate which concepts about gout and its treatment are reflected in images in online educational resources about gout. Methods A Google search was performed to identify English-language patient resources from medical and health organizations and health education websites in 7 countries: Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, UK, and USA. Two raters independently coded the images in the resources into 5 main categories: clinical presentations of gout, urate/monosodium urate (MSU) crystals, medicines, food/healthy lifestyle, and other advice for people with gout. Results In total, 103 resources were identified; 28 resources without images were excluded. Seventy-one educational resources with a total of 310 images were included in the study sample. Of the 310 images, clinical presentations of gout were depicted in 92 images (30%), food/healthy lifestyle in 73 images (24%), urate/MSU crystals in 50 (16%), medicines in 14 (5%). Urate-lowering medication was shown only in 1 image (0.3%) and just 6 images (2%) depicted a serum urate target. Ninety-one images (29%) did not convey specific information about gout. Conclusion Key concepts about gout and treatment are underrepresented in the images used in educational resources for patients. A large proportion of the images do not convey useful information about gout or its management.