The quality of most Web-based information about oral lichen planus is not adequate enough to eliminate the need for doctor-patient counseling about this condition, according to researchers from the University of Murcia (Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, June 25, 2010).
They conducted a pilot study to examine the accessibility and quality of Web pages related with oral lichen planus. They identified sites using two search engines, Google and Yahoo, and the search terms "oral lichen planus" and "oral lesion lichenoid." The first 100 sites in each search were visited and classified. The sites were evaluated for content quality by using the validated DISCERN rating instrument, a tool used to judge the quality of written consumer health information on treatment choices; Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) benchmarks; and Health on the Net seal (HON).
A total of 109,000 sites were recorded in Google and 520,000 in Yahoo using the search terms. A total of 19 Web pages considered relevant were examined on Google and 20 on Yahoo. Only two Google pages and three Yahoo pages satisfied the four criteria in the JAMA benchmarks.
The researchers' DISCERN evaluation concluded that the overall quality of website information was poor, with no site reaching the maximum score. In Google, 78.94% of sites had important deficiencies, while 50% of those on Yahoo had important deficiencies, with the difference between the two search engines being statistically significant (p = 0.031). Only five pages (17.2%) on Google and eight (40%) on Yahoo displayed the HON code.
"Based on our review, doctors must assume primary responsibility for educating and counseling their patients," the researchers concluded.
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