Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust, Epsom, UK.
School of Medicine University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.
J Obstet Gynaecol Res. 2022 Aug;48(8):2112-2121. doi: 10.1111/jog.15324. Epub 2022 Jun 14.
This review aimed to evaluate the quality of medicalinformation online for patients relating to vulvodynia. To our knowledge no evaluation of online patient information exists regarding vulvodynia and, at present, there is no standardized or validated method of evaluating medical information on the internet.
A clearly defined protocol was developed to generate keywords relating to vulvodynia. The three most popular search engines worldwide; google.com, yahoo.com, and bing.com, were searched in September 2020. Three assessors evaluated eligible webpages for accuracy, credibility, readability, and reliability.
Forty-five webpages were eligible with 38% given HON certification or Information Standard approval. Only one webpage achieved a DISCERN score of ≥63 indicating excellent reliability. No webpages scored a maximum 10 points for credibility. Eleven percent of webpages were rated "accurate" with score 17 or above. The modal Flesch Kincaid Grade Level was 9 with only 15.6% having a readability grade level of 8 or less.
It has been shown in previous studies that patient information available online pertaining to gynecological conditions is frequently inaccurate, with limited regulation and low reliability, and our findings are in agreement with this. As patients increasingly look to the internet for medical information and education, we as clinicians, need to ensure the resources available are of a high standard and regulated. Without ensuring safe and effective healthcare resources, we risk misinformation which can negatively impact clinical care.
本综述旨在评估与外阴痛相关的在线医学信息对患者的质量。据我们所知，目前尚无针对外阴痛的在线患者信息评估，并且目前尚无评估互联网上医学信息的标准化或经过验证的方法。
制定了明确的方案来生成与外阴痛相关的关键字。2020 年 9 月，在全球三大最受欢迎的搜索引擎：google.com、yahoo.com 和 bing.com 上进行了搜索。三位评估员评估了合格网页的准确性、可信度、可读性和可靠性。
有 45 个网页符合条件，其中 38%获得 HON 认证或信息标准批准。只有一个网页的 DISCERN 评分≥63，表明可靠性极佳。没有网页的可信度评分达到满分 10 分。有 11%的网页被评为“准确”，得分 17 或以上。Flesch Kincaid 阅读水平中位数为 9，只有 15.6%的阅读水平等级为 8 或更低。
以前的研究表明，在线提供的与妇科疾病相关的患者信息经常不准确，监管有限，可靠性低，我们的发现与此一致。随着患者越来越多地从互联网上获取医疗信息和教育，作为临床医生，我们需要确保可用资源的标准和监管。如果不确保安全有效的医疗资源，我们就有可能会传播错误信息，从而对临床护理产生负面影响。
