Kobes Kevin, Harris Ilene B, Regehr Glenn, Tekian Ara, Ingledew Paris-Ann
Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Department of Medical Education, University of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago, IL, United States.
Can Urol Assoc J. 2018 Oct;12(10):344-350. doi: 10.5489/cuaj.5084. Epub 2018 May 28.
Prostate cancer patients are using more web resources to inform themselves about their cancer. However, patients may receive out-of-date or inaccurate information due to lack of regulation. The current study looks to systematically analyze the quality of websites accessed by patients with prostate cancer.
The term "prostate cancer" was searched in Google and the metasearch engines, Yippy and Dogpile, and the top 100 hits related to patient information were compiled from over 32 million hits. A standardized tool was used to examine 100 sites with respect to attribution, currency, usability, and content.
Of the top 100 websites relating to prostate cancer information, only 27% identified an author, of which 16% had their credentials displayed. The majority of websites disclosed ownership (97%). Over half of the websites did not include the date of the last update and of those that did, only 66% were current within two years. According to the Flesch Kincaid grade level tool for readability, the majority (87%) of sites were found to be at a high school level, while 6% were at university level. Finally, content varied among websites; 90% of sites provided information on detection and workup and treatments, but only 14% of sites included information on prognosis.
The reliability of websites presenting prostate cancer information is questionable. There were noted deficiencies in attribution, currency, and readability. While information on detection and treatment is well-covered, information related to prognosis is lacking.
前列腺癌患者越来越多地利用网络资源来了解自己的病情。然而，由于缺乏监管，患者可能会收到过时或不准确的信息。本研究旨在系统分析前列腺癌患者访问的网站质量。
在谷歌、元搜索引擎Yippy和Dogpile中搜索“前列腺癌”一词，从超过3200万个搜索结果中整理出与患者信息相关的前100个结果。使用标准化工具从归因、时效性、可用性和内容方面对100个网站进行检查。
在与前列腺癌信息相关的前100个网站中，只有27%标明了作者，其中16%展示了作者的资质。大多数网站披露了所有权（97%）。超过一半的网站未注明最后更新日期，而注明更新日期的网站中，只有66%在两年内是最新的。根据弗莱什·金凯德可读性等级工具，大多数网站（87%）的可读性处于高中水平，6%处于大学水平。最后，各网站内容各异；90%的网站提供了有关检测、检查和治疗的信息，但只有14%的网站包含预后信息。
提供前列腺癌信息的网站的可靠性令人质疑。在归因、时效性和可读性方面存在明显不足。虽然检测和治疗方面的信息涵盖良好，但缺乏与预后相关的信息。
