Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon.
Department of Surgery, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Baltimore, USA.
World J Surg. 2021 Jun;45(6):1853-1859. doi: 10.1007/s00268-021-05989-6. Epub 2021 Feb 12.
The Internet has become a central source of information on health-related issues. The aim of this study is to assess the quality and readability of online information present on the Whipple surgical procedure by applying recognized scoring tools.
A search using the top three online search engines (Google, Bing and Yahoo) was conducted in July 2020. Websites were classified as academic, physician, commercial or unspecified. The quality of information was assessed using the JAMA and DISCERN assessment instruments and presence of a HONcode seal. Readability was assessed using the Flesch Reading Ease Score (FRES).
A total of 34 unique sources were included in our study. The average JAMA and DISCERN scores of all websites were 2.22 ± 0.48 and 47.28 ± 1.17, respectively, with a median of 1.9 (range 0-4) and 47 (range 18-71), respectively. Website classification distribution was 38% academic, 18% commercial, 9% unspecified, and 1% from physician-based websites. Physician websites had the highest JAMA score with a mean of 3 ± 0.46. Unspecified websites had the highest DISCERN score with a mean of 54.60 ± 1.09. Only 3 websites had the HONcode seal. Physician websites had a significantly higher JAMA mean score than academic websites (p-value = 0.004). Readability was difficult and is on the level of university students.
The results of this study show a poor quality of online information present on the Whipple surgery. Academic and physician websites need to improve the quality of their websites on the procedure. More HONcode-certified websites are needed as they are the best source for information on this operation.
互联网已成为获取健康相关问题信息的主要来源。本研究旨在应用公认的评分工具，评估有关胰十二指肠切除术的在线信息的质量和可读性。
2020 年 7 月，我们使用三大搜索引擎（谷歌、必应和雅虎）进行了搜索。根据网站类型将其分为学术、医生、商业或未指定。使用 JAMA 和 DISCERN 评估工具以及 HONcode 印章评估信息质量。使用 Flesch 阅读舒适度得分（FRES）评估可读性。
本研究共纳入 34 个独特来源。所有网站的平均 JAMA 和 DISCERN 评分为 2.22±0.48 和 47.28±1.17，中位数分别为 1.9（范围 0-4）和 47（范围 18-71）。网站分类分布为 38%学术、18%商业、9%未指定和 1%来自医生网站。医生网站的 JAMA 评分最高，平均为 3±0.46。未指定网站的 DISCERN 评分最高，平均为 54.60±1.09。仅有 3 个网站具有 HONcode 印章。医生网站的 JAMA 平均评分明显高于学术网站（p 值=0.004）。可读性困难，相当于大学生水平。
本研究结果表明，胰十二指肠切除术的在线信息质量较差。学术和医生网站需要提高其网站上有关该手术的质量。需要更多的 HONcode 认证网站，因为它们是有关该手术信息的最佳来源。
