Barwar Nilesh, Sharma Amit, Sharma Prem Prakash, Elhence Abhay
Department of Orthopaedics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bathinda, Bathinda, IND.
Department of Orthopaedics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Jodhpur, Jodhpur, IND.
Cureus. 2022 Aug 23;14(8):e28321. doi: 10.7759/cureus.28321. eCollection 2022 Aug.
To evaluate and assess the information about spine tuberculosis available on the internet to the general public for its quality, adequacy, and authenticity.
Tuberculosis is a bacteriological disease that has been associated with humankind since early human civilization. Spinal tuberculosis is an affection of the spine by the tubercle bacilli and can cause major complications, such as neurological dysfunction and spine deformities. Since the revolution in information technology, information about the disease is widely available on the internet.
A total of 68 websites were selected on Google, Yahoo, and MSN search engines for the information available about the disease. Scientific journals, books, and any other research materials were excluded from this study. The information was documented and evaluated for its validity, sufficiency, and authorship.
The public education websites (PEdWebs: Those websites which did not have direct involvement in patient care) were the major source of the information with 58.82% (40) of it coming from them. In all, there were 69% (47) physicians and 30.9% (21) non-physicians. Among the physicians, 89.4% reviewed the information through commercial websites. "Inadequate" information about spine tuberculosis was provided by 11.8% (8), "Moderate information" by 51.5% (35), and "Sufficient information" by 36.8 % (25) of the websites. Among the websites, 13.2% (9) did not mention any specific presentation of the disease. Sufficient information on that aspect was provided by only 45.58% (31) of the websites. Only 39% emphasized the importance of early diagnosis and subsequent disease management. The majority, i.e., 79.4% (54), did not mention the preventive measures.
The internet has a lot of information regarding spine tuberculosis. The majority of this information comes from physicians. However, not every website has complete and essential information regarding the disease.
评估互联网上向普通大众提供的有关脊柱结核的信息的质量、充分性和真实性。
结核病是一种自人类早期文明以来就与人类相关的细菌性疾病。脊柱结核是结核杆菌对脊柱的侵袭，可导致严重并发症，如神经功能障碍和脊柱畸形。自信息技术革命以来，有关该疾病的信息在互联网上广泛可得。
在谷歌、雅虎和MSN搜索引擎上共选取了68个网站，以获取有关该疾病的信息。本研究排除了科学期刊、书籍和任何其他研究材料。对信息进行记录，并评估其有效性、充分性和作者身份。
公众教育网站（PEdWebs：那些未直接参与患者护理的网站）是信息的主要来源，其中58.82%（40个）的信息来自这些网站。总共有69%（47名）医生和30.9%（21名）非医生。在医生中，89.4%通过商业网站查阅信息。11.8%（8个）网站提供了关于脊柱结核的“不充分”信息，51.5%（35个）网站提供了“中等信息”，36.8%（25个）网站提供了“充分信息”。在这些网站中，13.2%（9个）未提及该疾病的任何具体表现。只有45.58%（31个）网站提供了关于这方面的充分信息。只有39%的网站强调了早期诊断和后续疾病管理的重要性。大多数网站，即79.4%（54个），未提及预防措施。
互联网上有很多关于脊柱结核的信息。这些信息大多来自医生。然而，并非每个网站都有关于该疾病的完整和基本信息。
