Kieran Stephen M, Skinner Liam J, Donnelly Martin, Smyth David A
Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Waterford Regional Hospital, Co. Waterford, Ireland.
Ear Nose Throat J. 2010 Jan;89(1):E11-4.
The Internet is a vast information resource for both patients and healthcare professionals. However, the quality and content often lack formal scrutiny, so we examined the quality of patient information regarding tinnitus on the Internet. Using the three most popular search engines (google.com, yahoo.com, and msn.com), we found pertinent Web sites using the search term tinnitus. Web sites' accountability and authorship were evaluated using previously published criteria. The quality of patient information about tinnitus was assessed using a new 10-point scale, the Tinnitus Information Value (TIV). Statistical analysis was performed using the independent sample t-test (p <or= 0.05). An electronic database of 90 Web sites was constructed using the first 30 English-language Web sites identified by each search engine. After duplicates and sites only containing links to other Web sites were eliminated, 39 remained. The mean score for accountability was 2.13 on scale of 0 to 7. The mean TIV was 5.0 on a scale of 0 to 10. Only 12 sites (30.8%) had their authors clearly identified. Twenty-two (56.4%) sites were sponsored by commercial interests or represented private practices. The mean TIV was significantly higher (p = 0.037) for noncommercial (personal, academic institution, or charity) sites (5.88 +/- 2.39 SD) than those representing commercial interests (4.32 +/- 2.10 SD). Tinnitus information available on the Internet is indeed variable, and care should be taken in recommending tinnitus Web sites to patients.
互联网对患者和医疗保健专业人员来说都是一个巨大的信息资源。然而，其质量和内容往往缺乏正式审查，因此我们研究了互联网上有关耳鸣的患者信息质量。我们使用三个最流行的搜索引擎（google.com、yahoo.com和msn.com），通过搜索词“耳鸣”找到相关网站。根据先前公布的标准评估网站的问责制和作者身份。使用新的10分制耳鸣信息价值（TIV）量表评估有关耳鸣的患者信息质量。采用独立样本t检验进行统计分析（p≤0.05）。利用每个搜索引擎识别出的前30个英文网站构建了一个包含90个网站的电子数据库。在剔除重复网站和仅包含指向其他网站链接的网站后，剩下39个。问责制的平均得分为2.13（满分0至7分）。TIV的平均分为5.0（满分0至10分）。只有12个网站（30.8%）明确标明了作者。22个网站（56.4%）由商业利益赞助或代表私人诊所。非商业（个人、学术机构或慈善）网站的平均TIV（5.88±2.39标准差）显著高于代表商业利益的网站（4.32±2.10标准差）（p = 0.037）。互联网上可得的耳鸣信息确实参差不齐，向患者推荐耳鸣相关网站时应谨慎。
