Quality of diabetes related health information on internet: an Indian context

Abstract

Diabetes is a growing public health concern in Indian subcontinent. More and more people are searching internet for health information, however, the quality of internet-based medical information is extremely variable. This study aims to evaluate quality of health information about type-II diabetes mellitus in an Indian context. We used key words 'diabetes', 'diabetes management', 'diabetes prevention' and 'diabetes monitoring' and searched over Google, Yahoo and Bing during August 2011. Two independent reviewers used DISCERN tool to assess quality of health information of the final 84 websites. Majority of the websites were '.com' and DISCERN scores were highest in 'other' category. Inter-rater reliability analysis suggests 81% (N = 17) DISCERN criteria are in substantial agreement between two reviewers. There is no significant difference between two reviewers as well as among four website categories (.com, .edu, .org and others) for reliability of publication, specific details about treatment choices and overall quality rating.

Internet-Based Patient Education Materials Regarding Diabetic Foot Ulcers: Readability and Quality Assessment

“…It is possible that patients could obtain different resources. However, Google is the most common search engine used and has been the sole search engine used in several other readability analyses [ 14 , 33 , 34 ]. Furthermore, it is not possible to predict which search terms patients will use.…”

Info-pollution: a word of caution for the neurosurgical community

“…Since it was created, multiple articles have been published on the matter of assessment of the quality of information by using DISCERN tool in regard to vestibular schwannoma [18], pituitary adenoma [19], vagus nerve stimulation [20], perianal surgery for Chron's fistula [21], swallowing disorders [22], radiological related information [23], renal diet information [24], patient information [25], maxillofacial trauma [26], sickle cell disease [27], male infertility [28], Human Immunodeficiency Virus [29], ontological information [30], chest pain [31], craniosynostosis [32], heart failure [33], robotic prostatectomy [34], breast cancer [35][36][37], thumb sucking habit [38], prostate cancer [39,40], cochlear implantation [41], Down syndrome screening [42], congenital heart defects [43], pelvic organ prolapse [44], childhood epilepsy [45], autism [46], bariatric surgery [47], diabetes mellitus [48,49], clubfoot [50], attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) [49], idiopathic scoliosis [51], chronic pain [52,53], colorectal cancer [54], metabolic syndrome [55], cervical spine surgery [56], osteosarcoma…”