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Oncology Health Information Quality on the Internet: a Multilingual Evaluation

  • Healthcare Policy and Outcomes
  • Published:
Annals of Surgical Oncology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

Oncologic Internet information quality is considered variable, but no comprehensive analysis exists to support this. We compared the quality of common malignancy Web sites to assess them for language or disease differences and to perform a quality comparison between medical and layperson terminology.

Methods

World Health Organization Health on the Net (HON) principles may be applied to Web sites by using an automated toolbar function. We used the Google search engine (http://www.google.com) to assess 10,200 Web sites using the keywords “Breast,” “Colorectal,” “Stomach,” “Liver,” “Pancreas,” “Bile Duct,” “Melanoma,” and “Thyroid,” plus “cancer,” in English, French, German, and Spanish. The searches were then repeated with alternative terms, such as “Bowel” and “Skin cancer.”

Results

Less than a quarter of Web sites are HON accredited, with significant differences by malignancy type (P < 0.0001), language (P < 0.0001), and tertiles of the first 150 Web sites returned (P < 0.0001). French-language queries resulted in the most accredited Web sites returned. The use of alternative terms resulted in marked differences in accredited Web sites for hepatobiliary cancers.

Conclusions

A lack of validation of most oncologic sites is present, with discrepancies in the quality and number of Web sites across diseases and languages, as well as medical and alternative terms. Physicians should encourage and participate in the development of informative, ethical, and reliable health Web sites on the Internet and direct patients to them.

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Acknowledgment

I.D.D. is an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council Practitioner Fellow. We acknowledge Britta B. Bene and R. Gerardo Martinez for assisting with translations.

Conflict of interest

The authors have declared no conflicts of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Austin Hospital, Melbourne, Australia

    Nathan Lawrentschuk PhD, Andrew M. Scott MD & Ian D. Davis PhD

  2. Department of Surgery, Austin Hospital, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

    Nathan Lawrentschuk PhD

  3. Department of Surgical Oncology, Princess Margaret Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

    Deborah Sasges MD & Robert Tasevski FRACS

  4. Urological Institute, University Hospitals Case Medical Center, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Robert Abouassaly MD

  5. Department of Medicine, Austin Hospital, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

    Andrew M. Scott MD & Ian D. Davis PhD

Authors
  1. Nathan Lawrentschuk PhD
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  2. Deborah Sasges MD
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  3. Robert Tasevski FRACS
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  4. Robert Abouassaly MD
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  5. Andrew M. Scott MD
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  6. Ian D. Davis PhD
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Correspondence to Nathan Lawrentschuk PhD.

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Lawrentschuk, N., Sasges, D., Tasevski, R. et al. Oncology Health Information Quality on the Internet: a Multilingual Evaluation. Ann Surg Oncol 19, 706–713 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-011-2137-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-011-2137-x

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