Aortic valve surgery: how reliable are health information websites?

Aortic valve replacement is one of the most common cardiac operations currently performed. Patients increasingly use the internet for information about their diagnosis and it would therefore be important to know how reliable this is.

To determine the reliability of internet information on aortic valve replacement surgery.

This was a web-based project scoring sites that might be accessed by a patient.

The first 50 websites found on each of the four most popular search engines in the UK were viewed, as well as the first 50 videos found on the most popular video-host website. Eligible websites were assessed according to seven positive criteria and three negative criteria, giving a possible range of scores from -6 to 14.

There were 79 sites and the median score was 5 (range -1 to 14). There were statistically significant differences between organisation/educational sites with score 7 (2 to 14), hospital sites with score 2 (-1 to 10), commercial sites with score 2.5 (0 to 9) and videos with score 5 (2 to 11). The highest scores went to three NHS sites (score 13 or 14), .gov sites (median score 8.5) and Health On the Net Foundation (HON) accredited sites (median score 7).

Information on the internet about aortic valve replacement is variable but NHS sites provide the most reliable information.