A methodology to analyze the quality of health information on the internet: the example of diabetic neuropathy.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this work was to evaluate the criteria used to assess the quality of information on diabetic neuropathy on the Internet.

METHODS

Different search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing, and Ask) and 1 governmental health website (MedlinePlus) were studied. The websites returned (200 for each search engine) were then classified according to their affiliation (eg, commercial, professional, patient groups). A scoring system was devised from the literature to assess quality of information. Websites were also analyzed using the 2 most widely used instruments for assessing the quality of health information, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) scoring system and the Health On the Net Foundation (HON) certification.

RESULTS

Professional websites or health portals scored better according to most criteria. Google and MedlinePlus returned results scoring significantly higher than other engines in some of the criteria. The use of different instruments gave different results and indicates that the JAMA score and the HON certification may not be sufficient ones.

CONCLUSIONS

This methodology could be used to evaluate the reliability and trustworthiness of information on the Internet on different topics to identify topic areas or websites where the available information is not appropriate.