title: The evolution of Web-based medical information on sore throat: a longitudinal study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The content of a page can change and is likely to change over time; this is one of the useful qualities of the Web, but also a dangerous one.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To monitor the evolution of Web page contents on sore throat over a 3 year period.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two medical doctors independently evaluated 34 Web pages on sore throat. Pages were found using a metasearch engine. The evaluation factors were: the adherence of medical contents to a gold standard (American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations) composed of 5 subfactors (epidemiological, clinical, complications, diagnosis, and therapy); the completeness of the contents in terms of considered/missed factors of the gold standard; references to medical literature; and a specified last update of the page. During the observation period these sites were revisited twice, after 28 and 39 months, to examine any changes therein since the first visit.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The degree of adherence to the gold standard did not significantly change. Variations (both positive and negative) were recorded solely with regard to the update and references factors as well as with regard to the availability of the pages over time (18% disappeared during the observation period).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In 3 years medical contents have not changed significantly and despite the contemporary epochal Internet revolution (in terms of, eg, technology, graphics, and access) and the increase in the number of sites dealing with the issue of sore throat, there has been no corresponding qualitative increase in the contents of the pages monitored.
authors.affiliation: Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Istituto di Clinica Pediatrica, Rome, Italy. servpil@rm.unicatt.it
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Currò
authors.forename: Paola Sabrina
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Buonuomo
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: De Rose
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Onesimo
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vituzzi
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: D'Atri
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008490:Medical Informatics / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends*; D010612:Pharyngitis / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D011786:Quality Control; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000639:trends