Comparison of information obtained from a Usenet newsgroup and from drug information centers

Abstract

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.

Direct Sale of Sildenafil (Viagra) to Consumers over the Internet

“…Several studies have evaluated the quality of medical information available on the Internet. [22][23][24] We focused on the use of the Internet as a source of prescription drugs. Our study demonstrates that sildenafil is widely available directly to consumers through the Internet.…”

Ethical issues in qualitative research on internet communities

“…Examples include the study of helping mechanisms and content of online self help groups for colorectal cancer,4 breast cancer,5 Alzheimer's disease,6 and eating disorders 7. The second type of online research is through active analysis, in which researchers participate in communications—for example, to determine the accuracy of responses to healthcare questions on the Usenet 8. In the third type researchers identify themselves as such and gather information in the form of online semistructured interviews, online focus groups, or internet based surveys or use the internet to recruit participants for “traditional” research.…”

Use of mifepristone as an example of conflicting and misleading medical information on the internet

“…The quality of the medical information, however, is particularly important because misinformation could sometimes be a matter of life and death 3 . A few published studies attempted to assess the quality of medical information on the Worldwide Web, assessing common problems such as menorrhagia 9 , management of fever in children at home 10 , drug information 11 and emergency contraception 12 , as test cases. They all found variability in both content and quality of the medical information provided, and stated that few 10 or none 9,12 of the websites provided complete information.…”