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Addressing disparities in living kidney donation calls for making information comprehensible across literacy levels. With the average American adult reading at an 8th-grade level, simplifying complex medical information is imperative. This study evaluated the utility of ChatGPT, an advanced AI language model, in modifying text about living kidney donation to make it accessible at an 8th-grade reading level or below.
We selected 27 questions and answers from Donate Life America, a widely-used resource on living kidney donation. These texts were modified using two versions of ChatGPT to enhance readability for those with literacy levels at or below the 8th grade. The Flesch-Kincaid formula was employed to gauge the readability of both the original and modified texts. A paired t-test assessed the statistical significance of any changes in readability grade levels. A statistical comparison between Chat GPT 3.5 and Chat GPT 4.0 was conducted examining the mean difference (MD) with standard deviation (SD).
The original FAQs had an average reading level of 9.6±1.9. After modification, Chat GPT 3.5 and Chat GPT 4.0 achieved average readability levels of 7.72±1.85 and 4.30±1.71, respectively, with a p-value <0.001, signifying a substantial improvement. Chat GPT 3.5 rendered 59.26% of the answers readable below the 8th-grade level, whereas Chat GPT 4.0 achieved this in 96.30% of cases. The grade level of the modified answers by Chat GPT 3.5 and Chat GPT 4.0 ranged from 3.4 to 11.3 and 1 to 8.1, respectively with MD of 3.43 (SD = 1.62, p-value <0.001).
Both Chat GPT 3.5 and Chat GPT 4.0 effectively reduced the readability grade levels of complex medical information. However, Chat GPT 4.0 was demonstrably more effective, indicating its promising potential for enhancing the accessibility of medical information. This performance suggests that ChatGPT could play a contributory role in advancing diversity and equity in living kidney donation. Although our findings confirm the ability of ChatGPT to significantly bring down readability levels, there exists scope for further refinement.