title: Quality of information available via the internet for patients with head and neck cancer: are we improving?
abstract: This study aimed to evaluate the type, content, accessibility and quality of information available via the internet for patients with head and neck cancer. The Google search engine was used to generate lists of the first 100 websites for general head and neck cancer and the first ten for head and neck cancers by anatomical location (160 total). Websites were evaluated with the validated DISCERN and LIDA instruments, the SMOG (Simple measure of gobbledygook) readability score and against the JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) criteria. 40 of the 160 websites ranked by Google were suitable for analysis. Seven websites (17.5%) partially or fully achieved all four JAMA benchmarks and only one (2.5%) site achieved none. 28 (70%) included reference to quality of life factors. Correlations were identified between Google site rank and all four of our appraisal tools; LIDA (-0.966, p = 0.006), JAMA (-5.93, p = 0.028), DISCERN (-0.568, p = 0.037) and SMOG (4.678, p = 0.04). Google site rank and both government run sites (-35.38, p = 0.034) and sites run by universities or hospitals (-27.32, p = 0.016) also showed an association. Comparing our observations with those of Riordain in 2008, there has been little improvement in the quality of head and neck cancer information available online over this time. Given the variability in quality of information online, patients would benefit from being directed to reliable websites by clinicians.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Oncology, Yorkshire Training Rotation, Kingston upon Hull, UK. j.best@doctors.org.uk.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Best
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, West Midlands Training Rotation, Birmingham, UK.
authors.forename: Jameel
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Muzaffar
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, West Midlands Training Rotation, Birmingham, UK.
authors.forename: Alistair
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mitchell-Innes
mesh_terms: D019985:Benchmarking; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet / Q000592:standards*; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D011788:Quality of Life; D057386:Search Engine
keywords: Head and neck cancer; Internet; Patient information; Quality of information; Quality of life