title: Prostate Cancer on the Web-Expedient Tool for Patients' Decision-Making?
abstract: Many patients diagnosed with cancer search for health information on the Web. We aimed to assess the quality and reliability of online health information on prostate cancer. Google, Yahoo, and Bing were searched for the term "prostate cancer." After selecting the most frequented websites, quality was measured by DISCERN score, JAMA benchmark criteria, and presence of HONcode certification. Popularity was assessed by Alexa tool, while accessibility, usability, and reliability were investigated by LIDA tool. Readability was analyzed by Flesch-Kincaid Reading Grade Level and Automated Readability Index. All 13 selected websites were rated as being of high quality according to the DISCERN instrument (76.5 ± 2.6 out of 80 points). JAMA benchmark criteria were fulfilled by 87 % of websites, whereas only 37 % were certified by the HONcode. Median Alexa Traffic Rank was 2718 ranging from 7 to 679,038. Websites received 2.3 ± 0.5 daily pageviews per visitor and users spent an average of 2 min 58 s ± 39 sec on the website. Accessibility (92 ± 5 %) and usability (92 ± 3 %) scores were high and reliability (88 ± 8 %) moderate according to the LIDA tool. Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level was 7.9 ± 2.2, and Automated Readability Index was 7.5 ± 2.4, rating the websites as fairly difficult to read. In conclusion, quality, accessibility, and usability of websites on prostate cancer provided a high rating in the current analysis. These findings are encouraging in view of the growing frequency of patients' access of health information online.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University Hospital Frankfurt, Theodor-Stern-Kai 7, 60590, Frankfurt, Germany. hendrik.borgmann@kgu.de.
authors.forename: Hendrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Borgmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University Hospital Frankfurt, Theodor-Stern-Kai 7, 60590, Frankfurt, Germany.
authors.forename: Jan-Henning
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Wölm
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University Hospital Frankfurt, Theodor-Stern-Kai 7, 60590, Frankfurt, Germany.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vallo
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University Hospital Frankfurt, Theodor-Stern-Kai 7, 60590, Frankfurt, Germany.
authors.forename: Rene
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mager
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huber
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University Hospital Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Breyer
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, St Josefs-Hospital, Dortmund, Germany.
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Salem
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology and Population Health, New York University and Manhattan Veterans Affairs Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Stacy
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Loeb
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University Hospital Frankfurt, Theodor-Stern-Kai 7, 60590, Frankfurt, Germany.
authors.forename: Axel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Haferkamp
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University Hospital Frankfurt, Theodor-Stern-Kai 7, 60590, Frankfurt, Germany.
authors.forename: Igor
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Tsaur
mesh_terms: D032882:Comprehension; D054626:Consumer Health Information / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003657:Decision Making; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*
keywords: Consumer health information; Decision making; Health services research; Internet; Prostatic neoplasms