Wikipedia vs peer-reviewed medical literature for information about the 10 most costly medical conditions.
BACKGROUND
Since its launch in 2001, Wikipedia has become the most popular general reference site on the Internet and a popular source of health care information. To evaluate the accuracy of this resource, the authors compared Wikipedia articles on the most costly medical conditions with standard, evidence-based, peer-reviewed sources.


METHODS
The top 10 most costly conditions in terms of public and private expenditure in the United States were identified, and a Wikipedia article corresponding to each topic was chosen. In a blinded process, 2 randomly assigned investigators independently reviewed each article and identified all assertions (ie, implication or statement of fact) made in it. The reviewer then conducted a literature search to determine whether each assertion was supported by evidence. The assertions found by each reviewer were compared and analyzed to determine whether assertions made by Wikipedia for these conditions were supported by peer-reviewed sources.


RESULTS
For commonly identified assertions, there was statistically significant discordance between 9 of the 10 selected Wikipedia articles (coronary artery disease, lung cancer, major depressive disorder, osteoarthritis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, back pain, and hyperlipidemia) and their corresponding peer-reviewed sources (P<.05) and for all assertions made by Wikipedia for these medical conditions (P<.05 for all 9).


CONCLUSIONS
Most Wikipedia articles representing the 10 most costly medical conditions in the United States contain many errors when checked against standard peer-reviewed sources. Caution should be used when using Wikipedia to answer questions regarding patient care.
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Robert T
RT
Hasty
Ryan C
RC
Garbalosa
Vincenzo A
VA
Barbato
Pedro J
PJ
Valdes
David W
DW
Powers
Emmanuel
E
Hernandez
Jones S
JS
John
Gabriel
G
Suciu
Farheen
F
Qureshi
Matei
M
Popa-Radu
Sergio
S
San Jose
Nathaniel
N
Drexler
Rohan
R
Patankar
Jose R
JR
Paz
Christopher W
CW
King
Hilary N
HN
Gerber
Michael G
MG
Valladares
Alyaz A
AA
Somji
D015706:Bibliometrics; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000191:economics*; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D004690:Encyclopedias as Topic; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D010380:Peer Review; D010506:Periodicals as Topic; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014481:United States