Transparency of information on eye diseases on the internet.
BACKGROUND
Transparency is an indicator of trustworthiness and quality of health information about eye diseases on the Internet.


METHODS
20 websites that contained information about eye diseases aimed at the general public were evaluated. A modified Afgis (Aktionsforum Gesundheitsinformationssystem/action forum health information system) project transparency checklist was used.


RESULTS
On average, 6.15 +/- 1.68 criteria were fulfilled. All websites maintained separation between advertising and editorial content. Between 80 and 90% of the websites studied contained complete information about the provider, aims and target audience, and feedback from users. The criteria for privacy were met by 70% of websites, 40% met those for currency of content and data, 35% those for methods of quality assurance, 15% those for financing and sponsoring and 0% met the requirements for authors and sources of information.


CONCLUSIONS
Visually impaired people benefit from transparency, because this facilitates accessibility to web-based health information. Hence, websites containing health information related to eye diseases should meet the demands of transparency.
Lüchtenberg
Marc
M
Department of Ophthalmology, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Ohrloff
Christian
C
Schalnus
Rainer
R
D000329:Advertising; D005128:Eye Diseases / Q000628:therapy*; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination; D020407:Internet / Q000592:standards*; D008490:Medical Informatics / Q000592:standards*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care