Readability and Action Cue Visibility in Public Patient Education Pages on Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Introduction: Public online acute myeloid leukemia pages are often an early information source for patients and families. For acute myeloid leukemia, delayed recognition and unclear action guidance may affect patient decisions. We assessed readability and the presence of practical action cues in public English language acute myeloid leukemia patient information pages.

Methods: We sampled seven accessible public webpages from national or major cancer information providers in June 2026. Page body text was extracted after removing navigation and advertising material. We calculated the Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch Kincaid Grade Level and recorded whether pages contained disease definition, symptoms, treatment, and urgent contact cues.

Results: All seven pages defined acute myeloid leukemia and discussed treatment. Six pages described symptoms and six contained at least one urgent contact or immediate care cue. The Median Flesch Reading Ease score was 55.9, with a range of 41.7 to 66.2. The Median Flesch Kincaid Grade Level was 8.3, with a range of 7.5 to 9.9. Two pages were near or above the ninth-grade level. Action cues were present but were usually embedded in longer explanatory sections rather than placed as a short safety instruction.

Conclusions: Public acute myeloid leukemia patient education pages from major sources were generally understandable at middle-school to early-high-school levels, but readability and urgent action visibility varied. A structured patient education checklist for acute myeloid leukemia pages may improve consistency by combining plain language explanation, symptom prompts, treatment overview, and clearly visible contact guidance.