Health information quality of online newspaper articles in Korea

The Web is an important source of health information, but the quality of such online information is highly variable. This study evaluates the quality of health articles published on Naver News, Korea's most popular portal, using the Health Information Quality Assessment Tool (HIQUAL).

We collected 712 health-related articles published on Naver News from May 1 to 7, 2023. After applying exclusion criteria, we selected 116 articles for analysis. Two clinicians independently assessed the quality of these articles using the HIQUAL, which scores articles based on five domains: "reliability," "usefulness," "understandability," "sufficiency," and "transparency."

Overall article quality was generally considered recommendable (mean±standard deviation: 7.52±2.00). "Usefulness," one item of "reliability," and "understandability" were the three items with the highest levels of satisfaction. "Sufficiency" criteria for costs, risks, and benefits received low scores. Quality scores for articles focused on health risk factors and intervention showed a statistically significant difference.

While the overall quality of health information in Korean online newspaper articles is acceptable, room for improvement remains in some areas, particularly with regard to the fair presentation of costs, risks, and benefits. The study highlights the need for ongoing quality improvement and evaluation initiatives for online health information.