he Internet has become a source of information on almost any topic, and access is available to virtually anyone with a computer, a modem, and a telephone line.Services encompassed by the Internet include e-mail (electronic mail), electronic billboards (World Wide Web pages), and Usenet newsgroups, in which groups of users informally band together to discuss topics of common interest. One of the many newsgroups related to health care is sci.med.pharmacy, where questions on health or medication use are often posted.Because it is not possible to verify the credentials of newsgroup participants, questions have arisen about the accuracy of information presented in this forum. 1 A literature search (MEDLINE) failed to identify any studies (excluding abstracts from meeting presentations) that addressed the accuracy of information obtained from health-related Usenet newsgroups.Our research hypothesis was that the proportion of accurate responses to drug information questions obtained from the Usenet newsgroup sci.med.pharmacy would differ from the proportion obtained from drug information centers (DICs). MethodsTwenty-five questions were randomly selected from the continuing-education sections of the Annals of Pharmacotherapy (1991-95), by using a random-number generator. The answer to each question was determined from the list of possible answers and on the basis of the corresponding articles (appendix). These questions and answers were thought to represent an acceptable stan-Abstract: Responses to drug information questions posted on the Internet Usenet pharmacy newsgroup sci.med. pharmacy were compared for accuracy with responses from drug information centers (DICs).Twenty-five questions were randomly selected from the past five years' continuingeducation sections of the An-nals of Pharmacotherapy, and possible answers were determined on the basis of corresponding articles. The questions were randomly submitted to sci.med.pharmacy from various e-mail accounts over a 10-week period. The same questions were submitted by telephone to randomly selected DICs. The correctness of responses was judged by a panel of four pharmacists.The questions received 31 responses from sci.med. pharmacy and 38 from the DICs. The responses from sci.med.pharmacy received 38 (31%) judgments of correct and the responses from the DICs, 85 (56%).A significantly smaller proportion of drug information responses from the Usenet newsgroup sci.med.pharmacy were judged as being accurate compared with responses from DICs.

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