Wiriyakijja Paswach, Fedele Stefano, Porter Stephen, Ni Riordain Richeal
UCL Eastman Dental Institute, University College London, London, UK.
NIHR University College London Hospitals, Biomedical Research Centre, London, UK.
J Oral Pathol Med. 2016 Sep;45(8):617-20. doi: 10.1111/jop.12459. Epub 2016 May 28.
To categorise the content and assess the quality and readability of the online information regarding the treatment for oral leukoplakia.
An online search using the term 'leukoplakia treatment' was carried out on 8th June 2015 using the Google search engine. The content, quality and readability of the first 100 sites were explored. The quality of the web information was assessed using the following tools, the DISCERN instrument and the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) benchmarks for website analysis and the HON seal. Readability was assessed via the Flesch Reading Ease Score.
The search strategy generated 357 000 sites on the Google search engine. Due to duplicate links, non-operating links and irrelevant links, a total of 47 of the first 100 websites were included in this study. The mean overall rating achieved by included websites using the DISCERN instrument was 2.3. With regard to the JAMA benchmarks, the vast majority of examined websites (95.7%) completely fulfilled the disclosure benchmark and less than 50% of included websites met the three remaining criteria. A mean total readability score of 47.5 was recorded with almost 90% of websites having a readability level ranging from fairly difficult to very difficult.
Based on this study, the online health information regarding oral leukoplakia has challenging readability with content of questionable accuracy. As patients often search for health information online, it would be prudent for clinicians to highlight the caution with which online information should be interpreted.
对有关口腔白斑治疗的在线信息内容进行分类，并评估其质量和可读性。
2015年6月8日使用谷歌搜索引擎，以“白斑治疗”为关键词进行在线搜索。对前100个网站的内容、质量和可读性进行探究。使用以下工具评估网络信息的质量：DISCERN工具、美国医学会（JAMA）网站分析基准以及健康在线网络（HON）认证。通过弗莱什易读性分数评估可读性。
搜索策略在谷歌搜索引擎上产生了357000个网站。由于存在重复链接、无效链接和不相关链接，本研究共纳入了前100个网站中的47个。使用DISCERN工具，纳入网站的平均总体评分为2.3。关于JAMA基准，绝大多数被检查的网站（95.7%）完全符合披露基准，而纳入网站中不到50%符合其余三项标准。记录的平均总可读性分数为47.5，近90%的网站可读性水平从相当困难到非常困难。
基于本研究，有关口腔白斑的在线健康信息可读性具有挑战性，内容准确性存疑。由于患者经常在网上搜索健康信息，临床医生谨慎解读在线信息是明智的。
