Prostate cancer on the Internet--information or misinformation?

Area of Science:

• Medical Informatics
• Oncology
• Health Communication

Background:

• The internet is a primary source of health information for patients.
• Prostate cancer patients increasingly rely on online resources for decision-making support.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the quality of online information available to patients regarding prostate cancer.
• To identify specific shortcomings in internet-based prostate cancer resources.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the Webcrawler search engine with the term "prostate cancer" to identify 75 websites.
• Assessed websites for currency, disclosure, attribution, interactivity, and content using a 50-element rating tool.
• Rated each website on coverage and accuracy of information for essential prostate cancer elements.

Main Results:

• 39 out of 75 websites provided information on prostate cancer.
• Only 9 sites updated within 6 months; references and disclaimers were infrequent.
• Websites covered an average of 24 elements with variable accuracy; 94% of covered elements were correct.

Conclusions:

• Online prostate cancer information is largely accurate but has significant deficiencies in currency, disclosure, and attribution.
• The variability in content coverage and balance necessitates urologist awareness when counseling patients.
• Internet resources can aid patient decision-making, but require critical evaluation by healthcare providers.