Abstract
Introduction The use of the internet for health-related information continues to increase. Because
of its decentralized structure, information contained within the World Wide Web is
not regulated. The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the type and quality
of information on the internet regarding Kienböck’s disease. We hypothesized that
the information available on the World Wide Web would be of good informational value.
Materials and Methods The search phrase “Kienböck’s disease” was entered into the five most commonly used
internet search engines. The top 49 nonsponsored Web sites identified by each search
engine were collected. Each unique Web site was evaluated for authorship and content,
and an informational score ranging from 0 to 100 points was assigned. Each site was
reviewed by two fellowship-trained hand surgeons.
Results The informational mean score for the sites was 45.5 out of a maximum of 100 points.
Thirty-one (63%) of the Web sites evaluated were authored by an academic institution
or a physician. Twelve (24%) of the sites were commercial sites or sold commercial
products. The remaining 6 Web sites (12%) were noninformational, provided unconventional
information, or had lay authorship. The average informational score on the academic
or physician authored Web sites was 54 out of 100 points, compared with 38 out of
100 for the remainder of the sites. This difference was statistically significant.
Conclusion While the majority of the Web sites evaluated were authored by academic institutions
or physicians, the informational value contained within is of limited completeness.
More than one quarter of the Web sites were commercial in nature. There remains significant
room for improvement in the completeness of information available for common hand
conditions in the internet.
Keywords
content - Kienböck - information - internet - quality
