title: What cancer patients find in the internet: the visibility of evidence-based patient information - analysis of information on German websites.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The internet is an easy and always accessible source of information for cancer patients. The aim of our study was to evaluate the information provided on German websites.
  
  
  METHODS
  We developed an instrument based on criteria for patient information from the German Network for Evidence-based Medicine, the Agency for Quality in Medicine, HONcode, DISCERN, and the afgis. We simulated a patient's search and derived the websites for evaluation. We analyzed the visibility of each website and evaluated the websites using the developed instrument.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We analyzed 77 websites. The highest visibility index was shown by 4 profit websites. Websites from professional societies and self-help groups have low rankings. Concerning quality, websites from non-profit providers and self-help groups are on top. Websites with a profit interest have the lowest average score.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A discrepancy exists between the visibility and the quality of the analyzed websites. With the internet becoming an important source of information on cancer treatments for patients, this may lead to false information and wrong decisions. We provide a list of suggestions as to how this risk may be reduced by complementary information from the physician and from trustworthy websites.
authors.affiliation: German Cancer Society, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Liebl
authors.forename: Eckart
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Seilacher
authors.forename: Marie-Jolin
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Koester
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stellamanns
authors.forename: Joerg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zell
authors.forename: Jutta
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hübner
mesh_terms: D054626:Consumer Health Information / Q000592:standards*; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D057226:Information Seeking Behavior; D020407:Internet / Q000592:standards*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D057386:Search Engine / Q000592:standards*