Did online publishers “get it right”? Using a naturalistic search strategy to review cognitive health promotion content on internet webpages

Abstract

BackgroundOne of the most common uses of the Internet is to search for health-related information. Although scientific evidence pertaining to cognitive health promotion has expanded rapidly in recent years, it is unclear how much of this information has been made available to Internet users. Thus, the purpose of our study was to assess the reliability and quality of information about cognitive health promotion encountered by typical Internet users.MethodsTo generate a list of relevant search terms employed by Internet users, we entered seed search terms in Google Trends and recorded any terms consistently used in the prior 2 years. To further approximate the behaviour of typical Internet users, we entered each term in Google and sampled the first two relevant results. This search, completed in October 2014, resulted in a sample of 86 webpages, 48 of which had content related to cognitive health promotion. An interdisciplinary team rated the information reliability and quality of these webpages using a standardized measure.ResultsWe found that information reliability and quality were moderate, on average. Just one retrieved page mentioned best practice, national recommendations, or consensus guidelines by name. Commercial content (i.e., product promotion, advertising content, or non-commercial) was associated with differences in reliability and quality, with product promoter webpages having the lowest mean reliability and quality ratings.ConclusionsAs efforts to communicate the association between lifestyle and cognitive health continue to expand, we offer these results as a baseline assessment of the reliability and quality of cognitive health promotion on the Internet.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12877-017-0515-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

<p>Mini Nutritional Assessment Scale-Short Form can be useful for frailty screening in older adults</p>

“…A number of scales have been validated to help in the identification of frail subjects, but there is no consensus regarding which frailty evaluation tool should be used for the assessment of frailty status. Many factors can lead to the development of frailty, but malnutrition plays an important role 3. Malnutrition is characterized by deficiency in nutrient absorption or a decrease in nutrient intake, which can cause many negative outcomes and consequently lead to frailty, if this condition is not treated or treatment is delayed 3,8,9.…”

“…Many factors can lead to the development of frailty, but malnutrition plays an important role 3. Malnutrition is characterized by deficiency in nutrient absorption or a decrease in nutrient intake, which can cause many negative outcomes and consequently lead to frailty, if this condition is not treated or treatment is delayed 3,8,9. Thus, nutritional screening is very important for definition of frailty and frail older adults represent primary targets for nutritional therapy 31.…”

“…Until now, there have been few studies investigating associations between MNA-SF scores and frailty, and these studies have found significant associations between nutritional status and frailty status 3,24,32. One of them carried out by Chang et al17 showed that community-dwelling older people who were frail had a high risk of malnutrition when evaluated by MNA-SF.…”

“…Weight loss can aid in the development of both malnutrition and frailty. An imbalance between energy intake and expenditure can cause muscle weakness, which may be associated with poor muscle strength, slowness, exhaustion, and reduced functional activities 3,4. Additionally, higher protein and specific micronutrient intake, and dietary pattern with more phytonutrient-rich plant foods, omega-3-rich fish, and other protein-rich foods are associated with lower incidence of frailty 5,6.…”

“…When older patients develop frailty, their muscle protein catabolism increases and age-related loss of muscle mass enhances, which results in impaired mobility and dependency on others 12. Therefore, frail patients have more difficulties in the selection, preparation, and intake of food, and they have a greater loss of appetite, eating problems, and swallowing problems 3,13. As a result, a vicious cycle develops between malnutrition and frailty.…”