title: Evaluation of the quality of information on the Internet available to patients undergoing cervical spine surgery.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the quality of information available on the Internet to patients with a cervical pathology undergoing elective cervical spine surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  Six key words ("cervical discectomy," "cervical foraminotomy," "cervical fusion," "cervical disc replacement," "cervical arthroplasty," "cervical artificial disc") were entered into two different search engines (Google, Yahoo!). For each key word, the first 50 websites were evaluated for accessibility, comprehensibility, and website quality using the DISCERN tool, transparency and honesty criteria, and an accuracy and exhaustivity scale.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 5,098,500 evaluable websites, 600 were visited; 97 (16%) of these websites were evaluated for quality and comprehensiveness. Overall, 3% of sites obtained an excellent global quality score, 7% obtained a good score, 25% obtained an above average score, 15% obtained an average score, 37% obtained a poor score, and 13% obtained a very poor score. High-quality websites were affiliated with a professional society (P = 0.021), had bibliographical references (P = 0.030), and had a recent update within 6 months (r = 0.277, P < 0.001). No correlation between global quality score and other variables was observed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study shows that the search for medical information on the Internet is time-consuming and often disappointing. The Internet is a potentially misleading source of information. Surgeons and professional societies must use the Internet as an ally in providing optimal information to patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Section of Neurosurgery, Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM), Hôpital Notre-Dame, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Alexander G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Weil
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Section of Neurosurgery, Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM), Hôpital Notre-Dame, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Michel W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Bojanowski
authors.affiliation: Centre de Biostatistique, Cliniques Universitaires UCL de Mont-Godinne, Yvoir, Belgium.
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jamart
authors.affiliation: Service de Neurochirurgie, Cliniques Universitaires UCL de Mont-Godinne, Yvoir, Belgium.
authors.forename: Thierry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gustin
authors.affiliation: Service de Neurochirurgie Fonctionnelle et Stéréotaxique CHU, Hôpital d'adulte de la Timone, Marseille, France. Electronic address: marclevequemd@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lévêque
mesh_terms: D002574:Cervical Vertebrae / Q000601:surgery*; D006266:Health Education / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination; D020407:Internet / Q000592:standards*; D009493:Neurosurgery / Q000592:standards*; D019637:Orthopedic Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D011786:Quality Control; D013131:Spine / Q000601:surgery*
keywords: Cervical surgery; Disc replacement; Fusion; Internet; Quality of information