Fricke M. Fallis D, Jones M, Luszko GM "Consumer health information on the Internet about carpal tunnel syndrome: Indicators of accuracy" American Journal of Medicine 118(2):168-174 February 2005.

[Eugene Garfield]

Martin Fricke : mfricke at u.arizona.edu



Title:    Consumer health information on the Internet about carpal tunnel
syndrome: Indicators of accuracy

Author(s): Fricke M, Fallis D, Jones M, Luszko GM

Source   : AMERICAN JOURNAL OF MEDICINE 118 (2): 168-174 FEB 2005

Cited References: 33      Times Cited: 0

Abstract:
PURPOSE: To identify indicators of accuracy for consumer health information
on the Internet.

METHODS: Several popular search engines were used to find websites on carpal
tunnel syndrome. The accuracy and completeness of these sites were
determined by orthopedic surgeons. It also was noted whether proposed
indicators of accuracy were present. The correlation between proposed
indicators of accuracy and the actual accuracy of the sites was calculated.

RESULTS: A total of 116 websites and 29 candidate indicators were examined.
A high Google toolbar rating of the main page of a site, many inlinks to the
main page of a site, and an unbiased presentation of information on carpal
tunnel syndrome were considered genuine indicators of accuracy. Many
proposed indicators taken from published guidelines did not indicate
accuracy (e.g., the author or sponsor having medical credentials).

CONCLUSION: There are genuine indicators of the accuracy of health
information on the Internet. Determining these indicators, and informing
providers and consumers of health information about them, would be useful
for public health care. Published guidelines have proposed many indicators
that are obvious to unaided observation by the consumer. However, indicators
that make use of the invisible link structure of the Internet are more
reliable guides to accurate information on carpal tunnel syndrome. (C) 2005
Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


Excerpt from Paper :

"Recently however, research has begun to consider whether the link structure
of the Internet may be important as an indicator of the relevance and
accuracy of web pages.  Web pages are linked via Uniform Resource Locator
(URL) links or references to other web pages.  Citation counts are commonly
used to identify quality information sources in scientific and academic
literature.  Indeed, empirical studies have found that a high citation
count is a good indicator of the methodological quality of the articles
published in medical journals.  It is reasonable to think that this, or an
elaboration of this, might apply to consumer health information on tje internet.

The topoligical or link structure of the Internet is in large part invisible
and hidden to the consumer.  However, there are ways for users to gain
information about it.  For example, several search engines (e.g. Google and
MSN) allow users to ask for the number of other web pages that link to a
particular web page: the so-called "inlinks" (using the syntax link:<url>).
 Also, Google provides a toolbar that can be downloaded and used to augment
the Internet Explorer browser (running under Windows).  This toolbar returns
a number out of 10( e.g. 0/10, 10/10) that is intended to indicate the
quality of the web page being viewed.  This number is calculated using
Google's PageRank algorithm, which makes use of the topological structure of
the Web.  A few empirical studies have found that topological indicators,
such as a high Google toolbar rating or many inlinks, are indicative of the
quality of websites.  However, these studies have not looked specifically at
whether they are indicative of the accuracy of sites that provide consumer
health information.

The current study empirically tests several manifest and topological
indicators to determine if any of these candidate indicators are correlated
with accurate information on a common consumer health information topic -
carpal tunnel syndrome."


Addresses: Fricke M (reprint author), Univ Arizona, Sch Informat Resources &
Lib Sci, 1515 E 1st St, Tucson, AZ 85719 USA
Univ Arizona, Sch Informat Resources & Lib Sci, Tucson, AZ 85719 USA
Univ Arizona, Hlth Sci Ctr, Dept Orthoped Surg, Tucson, AZ 85721 USA

E-mail Addresses: mfricke at u.arizona.edu

Publisher: EXCERPTA MEDICA INC, 650 AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS, NEW YORK, NY
10011 USA


IDS Number: 893GE
ISSN: 0002-9343

CITED REFERENCES:
AGENTWEBRANKING SEAR
   HLTH NET FDN
   2002, CONSUMER REPORTS, V67, P60
   2002, GENERATION AARP  JAN, P14
   2004, WEBMD HLTH
   AMBRE J, 1997, CRITERIA ASSESSING Q
   AMENTO B, 2000, P 23 ANN INT ACM SIG, P296
   BARABASI AL, 2003, SCI AM, V288, P60
   BEREDJIKLIAN PK, 2000, J BONE JOINT SURG  A, V82, P1540
   BORODIN A, 2001, P 10 INT WORLD WID W
   BRIN S, 1998, 7 INT WORLD WID WEB
   CONNELL TH, 1999, REF USER SERV Q, V38, P360
   EYSENBACH G, 2002, BRIT MED J, V324, P573
   EYSENBACH G, 2002, JAMA-J AM MED ASSOC, V287, P2691
   FALLIS D, 1999, P AMIA ANN S, P1055
   FALLIS D, 2002, J AM MED INFORM ASSN, V9, P73
   FALLIS D, 2002, J ED LIB INF SCI, V43, P246
   FOX S, 2000, PEW INTERNET AM LIFE
   FRICKE M, 2004, J AM SOC INF SCI TEC, V55, P238
   GARFIELD E, 1972, SCIENCE, V178, P471
   GOLDMAN AI, 1987, SYNTHESE, V73, P109
   GOLDMAN AI, 1999, KNOWLEDGE SOCIAL WOR
   GREENE WB, 2001, ESSENTIALS MUSCULOSK
   GRIFFITHS KM, 2000, BRIT MED J, V321, P1511
   IMPICCIATORE P, 1997, BRIT MED J, V314, P1875
   KIM P, 1999, BRIT MED J, V318, P647
   KLEINBERG JM, 1999, J ACM, V46, P604
   KUNST H, 2002, BRIT MED J, V321, P581
   LEE KP, 2002, JAMA-J AM MED ASSOC, V287, P2805
   LEMPEL R, 2000, 9 INT WORLD WID WEB
   MARTINFACKLAM M, 2002, AM J MED, V113, P740
   SILBERG WM, 1997, JAMA-J AM MED ASSOC, V277, P1244
   SULLIVAN D, NIELSEN NETRATINGS S