Oman Sven P, Zaver Himesh, Waddle Mark, Corral Juan E
Division of Hospital Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, United States.
Department of Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, United States.
JMIR Cancer. 2021 Mar 16;7(1):e25602. doi: 10.2196/25602.
Pancreatic cysts are a complex medical problem with several treatment options. Patients use web-based health information to understand their conditions and to guide treatment choices.
The goal of this study was to describe the quality and readability of publicly available web-based information on pancreatic cysts and to compare this information across website affiliations.
A Google search for "pancreatic cysts" was performed and the first 30 websites were evaluated. Website affiliations were classified as academic, media, nonprofit, government, or not disclosed. Information describing cancer risk was recorded. The DISCERN instrument measured the quality of content regarding treatment choices. Four standardized tests were used to measure readability.
Twenty-one websites were included. The majority of the websites (20/21, 95%) described the cancer risk associated with pancreatic cysts. Nearly half of the websites were written by an academic hospital or organization. The average DISCERN score for all websites was 40.4 (range 26-65.5, maximum 80). Websites received low scores due to lack of references, failure to describe the risks of treatment, or lack of details on how treatment choices affect quality of life. The average readability score was 14.74 (range 5.76-23.85, maximum 19+), indicating a college reading level. There were no significant differences across website affiliation groups.
Web-based information for patients with pancreatic cysts is of moderate quality and is written above the reading level of most Americans. Gastroenterological, cancer treatment organizations, and physicians should advocate for improving the available information by providing cancer risk stratification, treatment impact on quality of life, references, and better readability.
胰腺囊肿是一个复杂的医学问题，有多种治疗选择。患者利用基于网络的健康信息来了解自己的病情并指导治疗选择。
本研究的目的是描述关于胰腺囊肿的公开可用的基于网络的信息的质量和可读性，并比较不同网站所属机构的此类信息。
在谷歌上搜索“胰腺囊肿”，并对前30个网站进行评估。网站所属机构分为学术、媒体、非营利、政府或未披露。记录描述癌症风险的信息。使用DISCERN工具测量关于治疗选择的内容质量。使用四种标准化测试来测量可读性。
纳入了21个网站。大多数网站（20/21，95%）描述了与胰腺囊肿相关的癌症风险。近一半的网站由学术医院或组织撰写。所有网站的平均DISCERN评分为40.4（范围26 - 65.5，最高80）。由于缺乏参考文献、未描述治疗风险或缺乏关于治疗选择如何影响生活质量的细节，网站得分较低。平均可读性评分为14.74（范围5.76 - 23.85，最高19 +），表明为大学阅读水平。不同网站所属机构组之间没有显著差异。
针对胰腺囊肿患者的基于网络的信息质量中等，且写作水平高于大多数美国人的阅读水平。胃肠病学、癌症治疗组织和医生应倡导通过提供癌症风险分层、治疗对生活质量的影响、参考文献以及更好的可读性来改善现有信息。
