Phelps Cole R, Shepard Samuel, Hughes Griffin, Gurule Jon, Scott Jared, Raszewski Jesse, Hatic Safet, Hawkins Bryan, Vassar Matt
Office of Medical Student Research, Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences, Tulsa, OK, USA.
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Kettering Health Network, Dayton, OH, USA.
Foot Ankle Orthop. 2023 Sep 26;8(3):24730114231198837. doi: 10.1177/24730114231198837. eCollection 2023 Jul.
Approximately 1 in 4 adults will develop hallux valgus (HV). Up to 80% of adult Internet users reference online sources for health-related information. Overall, with the high prevalence of HV combined with the numerous treatment options, we believe patients are likely turning to Internet search engines for questions relevant to HV. Using Google's people also ask (PAA) or frequently asked questions (FAQs) feature, we sought to classify these questions, categorize the sources, as well as assess their levels of quality and transparency.
On October 9, 2022, we searched Google using these 4 phrases: "hallux valgus treatment," "hallux valgus surgery," "bunion treatment," and "bunion surgery." The FAQs were classified in accordance with the Rothwell Classification schema and each source was categorized. Lastly, transparency and quality of the sources' information were evaluated with the 's (JAMA) Benchmark tool and Brief DISCERN, respectively.
Once duplicates and FAQs unrelated to HV were removed, our search returned 299 unique FAQs. The most common question in our sample was related to the evaluation of treatment options (79/299, 26.4%). The most common source type was medical practices (158/299, 52.8%). Nearly two-thirds of the answer sources (184/299; 61.5%) were lacking in transparency. One-way analysis of variance revealed a significant difference in mean Brief DISCERN scores among the 5 source types, (4) = 54.49 ( < .001), with medical practices averaging the worst score (12.1/30).
Patients seeking online information concerning treatment options for HV search for questions pertaining to the evaluation of treatment options. The source type encountered most by patients is medical practices; these were found to have both poor transparency and poor quality. Publishing basic information such as the date of publication, authors or reviewers, and references would greatly improve the transparency and quality of online information regarding HV treatment.
Level V, mechanism-based reasoning.
约四分之一的成年人会患上拇外翻（HV）。高达80%的成年互联网用户会参考在线资源获取健康相关信息。总体而言，鉴于HV的高患病率以及众多的治疗选择，我们认为患者很可能会向互联网搜索引擎询问与HV相关的问题。我们利用谷歌的“人们也问”（PAA）或常见问题解答（FAQs）功能，试图对这些问题进行分类、对来源进行归类，并评估其质量和透明度水平。
2022年10月9日，我们使用以下4个短语在谷歌上进行搜索：“拇外翻治疗”“拇外翻手术”“拇囊炎治疗”和“拇囊炎手术”。常见问题解答根据罗斯韦尔分类模式进行分类，每个来源进行归类。最后，分别使用《美国医学会杂志》（JAMA）基准工具和简易辨别工具评估来源信息的透明度和质量。
去除与HV无关的重复项和常见问题解答后，我们的搜索返回了299个独特的常见问题解答。我们样本中最常见的问题与治疗方案的评估有关（79/299，26.4%）。最常见的来源类型是医疗实践（158/299，52.8%）。近三分之二的答案来源（184/299；61.5%）缺乏透明度。单因素方差分析显示，5种来源类型的简易辨别工具平均得分存在显著差异，F(4,294)=54.49（P<.001），医疗实践的平均得分最差（12.1/30）。
寻求有关HV治疗方案在线信息的患者会搜索与治疗方案评估相关的问题。患者遇到最多的来源类型是医疗实践；这些来源被发现透明度差且质量低。发布诸如出版日期、作者或审稿人以及参考文献等基本信息将大大提高有关HV治疗的在线信息的透明度和质量。
V级，基于机制的推理。
