Does Google™ Have the Answers? The Internet-based Information on Pelvic and Acetabular Fractures

Introduction The aim of this study is to assess the readability and reliability of internet-based information on pelvic and acetabular fractures. Methods The three most popular English-based internet search engines are Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Quality was assessed using the DISCERN tool, the Journal of the American Medical Association tool, and the presence of the Health on the Net Code (HONcode) seal. Readability was assessed using a combination of the Flesch Reading Ease Score and the Flesch-Kincaid grade level. Inclusion criteria included English language websites with the relevant search terms. We excluded videos, YouTube links, or sponsored advertisements. Search terms included acetabular fracture/fractured acetabulum and pelvic fracture/fractured pelvis. The top 25 websites in each search engine were reviewed. The searches for acetabular fractures and pelvic fractures generated 75 websites in total. Duplicates were excluded. Results The search for acetabular fracture revealed 36 discrete websites among the three search engines, and the search for pelvic fractures revealed 45 websites. Overall, the average reading grade was 9.7 for acetabular websites and 13.6 for pelvis websites. The quality of the websites was poor across all key performance indicators studied. Conclusion Physicians should be aware of the quality of medical information available to patients via internet searches because physicians should play a central role in the navigation of poor quality information to help direct patient-centered care.