Systematic review of the quality of patient information on the internet regarding inflammatory bowel disease treatments.
OBJECTIVE
Patients use the Internet as a resource for information about their diseases. A systematic review evaluating the quality of information available for inflammatory bowel disease patients on the Internet regarding treatment options was performed.


METHODS
Google was used to identify 50 websites on 3 occasions. A data quality score (DQS) (potential score, 0-76) was developed to evaluate the content of websites that scores patient information on indications, efficacy, and side effects of treatment. Other outcome measures were a 5-point global quality score, a drug category quality score, the DISCERN instrument, a reading grade level score, and information about integrity.


RESULTS
The median DQS was 22, range 0-74, median global quality score was 2.0, and median Flesch-Kincaid reading grade level was 12.0, range 6.9-13.7. Eight websites achieved a global quality score of 4 or 5. The DQS was highly associated with the global quality score (r = 0.82) and the DISCERN instrument (r = 0.89). There was poor association between the DQS and the rank order in all 3 Google searches. Information on funding source (59%) and date of last update (74%) were often lacking.


CONCLUSIONS
There is marked variation in the quality of available patient information on websites about the treatment options for Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Few websites provided high quality information. There is a need for high quality accredited websites that provide patient-oriented information on treatment options, and these sites need to be updated regularly.
Langille
Morgan
M
Division of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. vanzanten@ualberta.ca
Bernard
André
A
Rodgers
Chris
C
Hughes
Stephanie
S
Leddin
Des
D
van Zanten
Sander Veldhuyzen
SV
D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D015212:Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000628:therapy*; D020407:Internet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*