Quinn, EM,Corrigan, MA,McHugh, SM,Murphy, D,O'Mullane, J,Hill, ADK,Redmond, HP

2012

January

Breast (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Breast cancer information on the internet: Analysis of accessibility and accuracy

Validated

()

Breast Cancer Internet Patient information QUALITY RELIABILITY READABILITY

21

514

517

Studies show internet sourced information often has poor accuracy. However, it is rapidly becoming a major source of patient information. Our aim was to assess accuracy of breast cancer-related information on the internet.The top five breast cancer-related search terms were identified using the commercial program "Wordtracker". These terms were searched using the search-engine "Google" and the top 100 webpages per topic analysed for applicability and accuracy of information.Overall 500 webpages were analysed. 42% were inapplicable to the question asked. Applicable accuracy rates were variable amongst the five terms: "breast cancer symptoms" 84%, "breast cancer care" 87%, "breast cancer stage" 88%, "breast cancer survival" 91% and "breast cancer signs" 78%. Educational websites were more likely to be accurate(p < 0.001) and interest group administered websites less likely to be accurate(p = 0.018) than other websites.Finding accurate breast cancer information on the internet is difficult due to large numbers of inapplicable unregulated websites preferentially returned via search engines. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

DOI 10.1016/j.breast.2012.01.020