title: Quality of information available on the World Wide Web for patients undergoing thyroidectomy: review.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study aimed to assess the quality of information available on the World Wide Web for patients undergoing thyroidectomy.
  
  
  METHODS
  The first 50 web-links generated by internet searches using the five most popular search engines and the key word 'thyroidectomy' were evaluated using the Lida website validation instrument (assessing accessibility, usability and reliability) and the Flesch Reading Ease Score.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We evaluated 103 of a possible 250 websites. Mean scores (ranges) were: Lida accessibility, 48/63 (27-59); Lida usability, 36/54 (21-50); Lida reliability, 21/51 (4-38); and Flesch Reading Ease, 43.9 (2.6-77.6).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The quality of internet health information regarding thyroidectomy is variable. High ranking and popularity are not good indicators of website quality. Overall, none of the websites assessed achieved high Lida scores. In order to prevent the dissemination of inaccurate or commercially motivated information, we recommend independent labelling of medical information available on the World Wide Web.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, Castle Hill Hospital, Hull, UK. mksamy@gmail.com
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Muthukumarasamy
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Osmani
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sharpe
authors.forename: R J A
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: England
mesh_terms: D054626:Consumer Health Information / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination / Q000379:methods*; D020407:Internet / Q000592:standards*; D011932:Reading; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D057386:Search Engine; D013965:Thyroidectomy; D006113:United Kingdom