Websites on Bladder Cancer: an Appropriate Source of Patient Information?

Abstract

A growing number of patients search for health information online. An early investigation of websites about bladder cancer (BCa) revealed mostly incomplete and particularly inaccurate information. We analyzed the quality, readability, and popularity of the most frequented websites on BCa. An Internet search on www.google.com was performed for the term "bladder cancer." After selecting the most frequented websites for patient information, HONcode quality certification, Alexa popularity rank, and readability scores (according to US grade levels) were investigated. A 36-point checklist was used to assess the content according to the EAU guidelines on BCa, which was categorized into seven topics. The popularity of the 49 websites analyzed was average, with a median Alexa popularity rank of 41,698 (interquartile range [IQR] 7-4,671,246). The readability was rated difficult with 11 years of school education needed to understand the information. Thirteen (27%) websites were HONcode certified. Out of 343 topics (seven EAU guideline topics each on 49 websites), 79% were mentioned on the websites. Of these, 10% contained incorrect information, mostly outdated or biased, and 34% contained incomplete information. Publically provided websites mentioned more topics per website (median [IQR] 7 [5.5-7] vs. 5.5 [3.3-7]; p = 0.022) and showed less incorrect information (median [IQR] 0 [0-1] vs. 1 [0-1]; p = 0.039) than physician-provided websites. Our study revealed mostly correct but partially incomplete information on BCa websites for patients. Physicians and public organizations should strive to keep their website information up-to-date and unbiased to optimize patients' health literacy.

Assessment of the use of the Internet and social media among people with bladder cancer and their carers, and the quality of available patient‐centric online resources: a systematic review

“…Six studies assessed the quality of the available online resources for BCa . Three studies evaluated the accuracy of information on BCa on the Internet , while one study looked at the websites for both kidney cancer and BCa .…”

“…Six studies assessed the quality of the available online resources for BCa . Three studies evaluated the accuracy of information on BCa on the Internet , while one study looked at the websites for both kidney cancer and BCa . The fifth study compared the quality of health information on uro‐oncological websites and the last study in this group assessed cancer websites in Spanish .…”

“…The number of websites assessed in the studies ranged from 29 to 450. The most commonly used quality assessment instrument was the Health on the Net Code of Conduct (HONcode), developed by the WHO in an effort to guide Internet users by highlighting reliable, comprehensible, relevant and trustworthy sources of online health information . Approximately 16–29% of the websites were HONcode‐accredited.…”

“…Approximately 16–29% of the websites were HONcode‐accredited. Two studies rated the readability of the websites as difficult . One study found 24% of the websites were quite difficult to read, 48% were rated to have normal readability and 28% were easy .…”

Stellenwert der Digitalisierung im urologischen Alltag

“…Salem et al analysierten im Jahre 2016 Webseiten zum Blasenkarzinom und Hodentumor [43,35]. Allgemeine Informationen waren auf den meisten Webseiten relativ breit abrufbar, mit wenig inkorrekten Inhalten.…”