Delli K, Livas C, Spijkervet F K, Vissink A
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
Oral Dis. 2015 Jan;21(1):83-9. doi: 10.1111/odi.12213. Epub 2013 Dec 23.
To assess the qualitative standards of the information distributed via the Internet regarding xerostomia.
A comprehensive electronic search was performed for 'xerostomia' and 'dry mouth' separately using four search engines. The first 30 results from each search term-engine combination were pooled for analysis. After excluding promotional product sites, discussion groups, video feeds, scientific articles, non-operative sources, sites with denied direct access through password requirement, non-English language domains, and online medical dictionaries, 50 Web pages were evaluated in terms of readability, accessibility, usability, and reliability using recommended research methodology the Flesch Reading Ease Score and the LIDA instrument. Author and information details were also recorded.
The results revealed a variable quality of the available Internet information on xerostomia. The Web sites required advanced reading skills, while LIDA scores for accessibility, usability, and reliability ranged from medium to low with average scores extending from 29.1% to 81.3%.
The quality of information about xerostomia among Web sources presents high variability. The existing discrepancy should be alleviated by referring patients to evidence-based education materials on the Internet. Improvement in xerostomia information e-resources will contribute to a more advanced quality in oral health care.
评估通过互联网发布的有关口干症信息的质量标准。
使用四个搜索引擎分别对“口干症”和“口腔干燥”进行全面的电子搜索。将每个搜索词与搜索引擎组合的前30个结果汇总进行分析。在排除促销产品网站、讨论组、视频源、科学文章、非手术来源、因需要密码而无法直接访问的网站、非英语语言域名以及在线医学词典后，使用推荐的研究方法（弗莱什易读性分数和LIDA工具）对50个网页的可读性、可访问性、可用性和可靠性进行评估。还记录了作者和信息详情。
结果显示，互联网上有关口干症的现有信息质量参差不齐。这些网站需要较高的阅读技巧，而LIDA在可访问性、可用性和可靠性方面的得分从中等到较低不等，平均得分在29.1%至81.3%之间。
网络来源中有关口干症的信息质量差异很大。应通过引导患者参考互联网上基于证据的教育材料来缓解现有的差异。口干症信息电子资源的改善将有助于提高口腔保健的质量。
