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Men’s health on the web: an analysis of current resources

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World Journal of Urology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Introduction

Men’s health research covers a broad range of topics. Men and women face different barriers to health, with men almost universally having a lower life expectancy than women. Access to high-quality information on men’s health topics is potentially an important part of engaging men with medical services. We aim to assess the quality of men’s health resources available on the internet across 4 developed countries using a tier-based rating system as well as the World Health Organisation Health on the Net (HON) standards.

Methods

The Google search engine imbedded with the Health on the Net toolbar was used to assess 357 websites across Australia, Canada, America and United Kingdom using the search term ‘men’s health’. The websites were further subdivided into 3 tiers by 2 independent investigators, with tier 1 websites defined as government or health organisation sponsored, tier 2 websites defined as being sponsored by health services such as private clinics and insurance providers, and tier 3 websites being websites that did not meet criteria for the first 2 tiers.

Results

Overall, 28% of websites were rated as tier 1, 26% as tier 2 and 46% as tier 3. The HONcode accreditation was overall 39% of tier 1 websites. The majority of websites reviewed were in the tier 3 category, and 35% of overall websites being non-health or non-medically related.

Discussion

The lack of ‘relevant’ and HONcode-accredited websites relating to men’s health should be appreciated by health care professionals.

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Funding

This research did not receive any funding.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, Austin Hospital, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Jiasian Teh, Joe Wei, Glen Chiang, Tatenda C. Nzenza, Damien Bolton & Nathan Lawrentschuk

  2. Young Urology Researchers Organisation (YURO), Melbourne, Australia

    Jiasian Teh & Tatenda C. Nzenza

  3. Department of Surgical Oncology, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Jiasian Teh, Tatenda C. Nzenza & Nathan Lawrentschuk

  4. Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute, Austin Hospital, Heidelberg, Australia

    Jiasian Teh, Damien Bolton & Nathan Lawrentschuk

  5. Department of Urology, Austin Hospital, 145 Studley Road, Heidelberg, Melbourne, VIC, 3084, Australia

    Nathan Lawrentschuk

Authors
  1. Jiasian Teh
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  2. Joe Wei
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  3. Glen Chiang
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  4. Tatenda C. Nzenza
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  5. Damien Bolton
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  6. Nathan Lawrentschuk
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Contributions

JT, JW and GC: protocol/project development, data collection, data analysis, manuscript writing. TN and DB: project development. NL: protocol/project development, data analysis.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nathan Lawrentschuk.

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Authors have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose.

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Teh, J., Wei, J., Chiang, G. et al. Men’s health on the web: an analysis of current resources. World J Urol 37, 1043–1047 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00345-019-02670-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00345-019-02670-5

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