According to a recent study published in Cancer,
most breast cancer data found online is accurate - only 1 in 20 breast
cancer Web pages had inaccuracies, but sites featuring complementary
and alternative medicine were 15 times more likely to contain false or
misleading health information.
Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and
the University of Texas School of Health Information Sciences at
Houston (SHIS) used a specific quality criteria to extensively analyze
Web pages dedicated to disseminating breast cancer information. The
paper is part of a project to determine whether existing quality
assessment tools can identify false or inaccurate online breast cancer
information. It is believed that more patients seek medical and health
information online than visit a physician, according to the Pew
Internet and American Life Project.
Authors Funda Meric-Bernstam, Elmer Bernstam, and colleagues retrieved
343 Web pages using search engines that consumers
are likely to use and reviewed them for 15 quality
criteria such as display of authorship, date of creation and last
modification.
They note that reproducibility of the quality criteria was important.
About 5 percent of the Web sites contained inaccurate statements - 41
of the 343.
According to Funda Meric-Bernstam, many of her patients have
gone on the Internet for education and are well-informed about breast
cancer before their first appointment with her. "Often it's clearly a
benefit. For example, I've had patients who were recommended
mastectomies that were really breast conservation candidates. They
actually figured this out by going online and then seeking out surgeons
capable of performing the surgery," says Meric-Bernstam. "In
contrast, there are times patients read about treatments that clearly
do not apply to them, which can increase their level of anxiety or
expectations for a treatment that they are not a candidate for. Of
course, one also worries about patients who go online and then
ultimately do not seek out any treatment despite it being necessary."
Internist Elmer Bernstam adds, "consumers are taught to look for Web
sites where the author's credentials are identified, his or her
affiliations are disclosed and other information is listed." However,
he cautions that none of these criteria ensure accuracy.
Meric-Bernstam has also found that breast cancer information available
online is more accurate than what is found in other fields of health.
Acknowledging that the amount of information about health available on
the Internet since the data were collected in 2004 has increased, the
authors believe that the issue regarding specific quality criteria is
timely.
Bernstam notes, "the question that we really tried to answer was if we
could separate Web sites that have misinformation from Sites that have
more accurate content." The researchers were unable to find a
combination of criteria that allowed them to differentiate the Web
sites with accurate information from the ones with inaccurate
information. They hope to use such quality criteria in order to develop
a tool to help consumers screen for sites with misinformation.
"However, our current recommendation to patients is to be skeptical,
make sure what patients read is applicable to their specific medical
well-being and not to take action without consulting a clinician,"
concludes Meric-Bernstram.
Study Authors: Elmer Bernstam, Funda Meric-Bernstam, Muhammad F. Walji, Smitha Sagaram, Deepak Sagaram, Craig Johnson.
University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
mdanderson
Written by: Peter M Crosta