Truumees David, Duncan Ashley, Kunj Amin, Rajagopalan Dayal, Geck Matthew, Singh Devender, Stokes John, Truumees Eeric
University of California, Berkeley.
Ascension Texas Spine and Scoliosis, Austin, TX.
Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2022 May 1;47(9):E399-E406. doi: 10.1097/BRS.0000000000004146. Epub 2021 Jun 28.
Cross-sectional analysis.
This study aimed to evaluate the quality and accuracy of the content surrounding cervical radiculopathy available on the internet.
Those experiencing cervical radiculopathy and their families are increasingly browsing the worldwide web for medical information. As the information offered is likely to influence their health care choices, spine care providers must understand the quality and accuracy of that information.
Independent searches were conducted on the three most commonly accessed search engines (Google, Yahoo, and Bing) using the keyword "cervical radiculopathy." The searches were performed on June 28th, 2019. The top 50 sites from each search engines were reviewed. The websites were evaluated using quality, accuracy and usability markers.
Seventy-seven unique websites were analyzed; 54.5% were physician or medical group professional sites, 20.8% as non-physician, 10.4% as unidentified, 7.8% as academics, and 6.5% were commercial. Accuracy ranged from <25% to >75% were recorded with a mean accuracy of 3.5 signifying 50% to 75% agreement. Overall, website categories had a significant effect on Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) score, content quality, accuracy, total summary scores, distraction index, reading ease, and grade level (P < 0.05). Academic sites had the highest mean quality content, accuracy and total summary scores. Four of the top five websites with the highest total summary scores were physician driven. On average, Health on the Net code (HONcode) certified websites had lower grade level readability with greater reading ease and higher DISCERN and JAMA scores than uncertified sites (P < 0.05).
Despite the wide number of sources available, the quality, accuracy, pertinence, and intelligibility of the information remains highly variable. Clinicians treating patients with cervical radiculopathy should direct them to verifiable sites with regulated information and, where possible, contribute high- quality information to those sites.Level of Evidence: 4.
横断面分析。
本研究旨在评估互联网上有关神经根型颈椎病内容的质量和准确性。
患有神经根型颈椎病的患者及其家属越来越多地在全球网络上浏览医疗信息。由于所提供的信息可能会影响他们的医疗保健选择，脊柱护理提供者必须了解这些信息的质量和准确性。
使用关键词“神经根型颈椎病”在三个最常用的搜索引擎（谷歌、雅虎和必应）上进行独立搜索。搜索于2019年6月28日进行。对每个搜索引擎的前50个网站进行了审查。使用质量、准确性和可用性指标对网站进行评估。
分析了77个独特的网站；54.5%是医生或医疗集团专业网站，20.8%是非医生网站，10.4%身份不明，7.8%是学术网站，6.5%是商业网站。记录的准确率从<25%到>75%不等，平均准确率为3.5，表示50%到75%的一致性。总体而言，网站类别对《美国医学会杂志》（JAMA）评分、内容质量、准确性、总总结评分、干扰指数、易读性和年级水平有显著影响（P<0.05）。学术网站的平均质量内容、准确性和总总结评分最高。总总结评分最高的前五个网站中有四个是由医生主导的。平均而言，与未认证的网站相比，健康网络代码（HONcode）认证的网站年级水平可读性较低，但易读性更高，DISCERN和JAMA评分也更高（P<0.05）。
尽管有大量可用的信息来源，但信息的质量、准确性、相关性和清晰度仍然高度可变。治疗神经根型颈椎病患者的临床医生应指导他们访问信息经过规范且可验证的网站，并在可能的情况下，为这些网站提供高质量的信息。证据水平：4。
