Ng Jeremy Y, Jomy Jane, Vacca Alexandra
Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact, Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University, Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Learning and Discovery, Room 2112, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4K1, Canada.
Clin Hypertens. 2022 Mar 15;28(1):9. doi: 10.1186/s40885-021-00193-z.
Hypertension impacts 1.1 billion people globally; many patients seek complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), as a result of adverse side effects from antihypertensive medications or because they believe natural options are safer. The internet is increasingly playing a role in patient health information-seeking behavior, however, the variability of information quality across websites is unclear. Thus, the purpose of this study was to assess the quality of websites providing consumer health information at the intersection of hypertension and CAM.
Four unique terms were searched on Google, across Australia, Canada, the US, and the UK. The first 20 webpages resulting from each search were screened for eligibility, and were included if they contained consumer health information relating to CAM therapies for the treatment/management of hypertension. To assess the quality of health information on eligible websites, we used the DISCERN instrument, a standardized quality index of consumer health information.
Of 90 unique webpages, 40 websites were deemed eligible and quality assessed. The 40 eligible websites were classified into seven categories: professional (n = 15), news (n = 11), non-profit (n = 5), health portal (n = 3), commercial (n = 2), government (n = 1), and other (n = 3). The mean summed DISCERN score was 52.34 (standard deviation [SD] = 10.69) out of 75 and the mean overall score was 3.49 (SD = 0.08) out of 5. A total of 10 websites had a total DISCERN score of 60.00 and above with an average rating of 4.33. Among these, Medicine Net (69.00) and WebMD (69.00) were determined to have the highest quality information. Websites generally scored well with respect to providing their aims, identifying treatment benefits and options, and discussing shared-decision making; websites generally lacked references and provided inadequate information surrounding treatment risks and impact on quality of life.
While some websites provided high-quality consumer health information, many others provided information of suboptimal quality. A need exists to better educate patients about identifying misinformation online. Healthcare providers should also inquire about their patients' health information-seeking behavior, and provide them with the guidance necessary to identify high-quality resources which they can use to inform shared-decision making.
高血压影响着全球11亿人；许多患者寻求补充和替代医学（CAM），原因是抗高血压药物有不良副作用，或者他们认为天然疗法更安全。互联网在患者寻求健康信息的行为中发挥着越来越重要的作用，然而，各网站信息质量的差异尚不清楚。因此，本研究的目的是评估在高血压与补充和替代医学交叉领域提供消费者健康信息的网站的质量。
在澳大利亚、加拿大、美国和英国的谷歌上搜索了四个独特的术语。对每次搜索结果的前20个网页进行资格筛选，如果它们包含与用于治疗/管理高血压的补充和替代医学疗法相关的消费者健康信息，则将其纳入。为了评估符合条件的网站上健康信息的质量，我们使用了DISCERN工具，这是一种消费者健康信息的标准化质量指数。
在90个独特的网页中，40个网站被认为符合条件并进行了质量评估。这40个符合条件的网站分为七类：专业类（n = 15）、新闻类（n = 11）、非营利类（n = 5）、健康门户网站类（n = 3）、商业类（n = 2）、政府类（n = 1）和其他类（n = 3）。DISCERN总分平均为52.34（标准差[SD]=10.69）（满分75分），总体平均分是3.49（SD = 0.08）（满分5分）。共有10个网站的DISCERN总得分在60.00及以上，平均评分为4.33。其中，Medicine Net（69.00）和WebMD（69.00）被确定为信息质量最高。网站在阐述目标、明确治疗益处和选择以及讨论共同决策方面通常得分较高；网站普遍缺乏参考文献，且关于治疗风险和对生活质量影响的信息不足。
虽然一些网站提供了高质量的消费者健康信息，但许多其他网站提供的信息质量欠佳。有必要更好地教育患者如何识别网上的错误信息。医疗保健提供者还应询问患者寻求健康信息的行为，并为他们提供必要的指导，以帮助他们识别可用于为共同决策提供参考的高质量资源。
