Butler Laura, Foster Nadine E
Derbyshire Royal Infirmary, Derby, United Kingdom.
Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2003 Feb 15;28(4):395-401. doi: 10.1097/01.BRS.0000048497.38319.D3.
A cross section of Web sites accessible to the general public was surveyed.
To evaluate the quality of information on low back pain and its treatment that a "typical" patient user might access on the Internet.
Individuals with back pain have a desire to learn about their condition, what to expect, and what they can do about it. Web sites play a potentially useful role in providing information to help people learn about their low back pain and select the most appropriate methods of management.
A general search using popular search engines located 60 Web sites about back pain for review. A list of criteria for evaluating and scoring back pain Web sites was established using available literature and current clinical guidelines for the management of acute low back pain. The total quality score (maximum score, 38) was composed of two separate scores: one for general quality of the site (maximum score, 14) and one for site content specific to low back pain (maximum score, 24). Statistical tests, as appropriate, were used to investigate the relation between general indicators of Web site quality and total scores obtained.
The quality of the Web sites surveyed was poor, most of them (n = 58, 97%) scoring less than half the maximum available score. The mean total score was 7.4 (range, 2-25). The mean score was 4.9 (range, 1-12) for general Web site quality and 2.4 (range, 1-13) for content specific to low back pain. Web sites providing references, sites created more recently, and sites not created for advertising purposes tended to be of better quality.
This study highlighted the poor quality of information, particularly information about low back pain, available to "typical" patient users on the Internet. Health care professionals must have a role in evaluating existing information and in developing good-quality evidence-based Web sites. Patients with back pain should be discouraged from using the Internet as a source of information unless the Web sites they access have been evaluated and found to provide evidence-based messages.
对公众可访问的网站进行横断面调查。
评估“典型”患者用户在互联网上可能获取的有关腰痛及其治疗的信息质量。
背痛患者渴望了解自己的病情、预期情况以及应对措施。网站在提供信息以帮助人们了解腰痛并选择最合适的管理方法方面可能发挥有用的作用。
使用流行的搜索引擎进行全面搜索，找到60个有关背痛的网站进行审查。利用现有文献和急性腰痛管理的当前临床指南，制定了评估和评分背痛网站的标准清单。总质量得分（满分38分）由两个独立得分组成：一个是网站总体质量得分（满分14分），另一个是特定于腰痛的网站内容得分（满分24分）。酌情使用统计测试来研究网站质量的一般指标与获得的总得分之间的关系。
所调查网站的质量较差，其中大多数（n = 58，97%）得分不到满分的一半。平均总得分是7.4（范围为2 - 25）。网站总体质量的平均得分为4.9（范围为1 - 12），特定于腰痛的内容平均得分为2.4（范围为1 - 13）。提供参考文献的网站、创建时间较近的网站以及非为广告目的创建的网站往往质量更好。
本研究突出了互联网上可供“典型”患者用户获取的信息质量较差，尤其是有关腰痛的信息。医疗保健专业人员必须在评估现有信息以及开发高质量的循证网站方面发挥作用。除非背痛患者访问的网站经过评估并被发现提供循证信息，否则应劝阻他们将互联网作为信息来源。
