Abstract
ObjectivesThe research compared the comprehensiveness and accuracy of two online resources that provide drug information: Lexicomp and Wikipedia.MethodsMedication information on five commonly prescribed medications was identified and comparisons were made between resources and the relevant literature. An initial content comparison of the following three categories of medication information was performed: dose and instructions, uses, and adverse effects or warnings. The content comparison included sixteen points of comparison for each of the five investigated medications, totaling eighty content comparisons. For each of the medications, adverse reactions that appeared in only one of the resources were identified. When primary, peer-reviewed literature was not referenced supporting the discrepant adverse reactions, a literature search was performed to determine whether or not evidence existed to support the listed claims.ResultsLexicomp consistently provided more medication information, with information provided in 95.0% (76/80) of the content, compared to Wikipedia’s 42.5% (34/80). Lexicomp and Wikipedia had information present in 91.4% (32/35) and 20.0% (7/35) of dosing and instructions content, respectively. Adverse effects or warning content was provided in 97.5% (39/40) of Lexicomp content and 55.0% (22/40) of Wikipedia content. The “uses” category was present in both Lexicomp and Wikipedia for the 5 medications considered. Of adverse reactions listed solely in Lexicomp, 191/302 (63.2%) were supported by primary, peer-reviewed literature in contrast to 7/7 (100.0%) of adverse reactions listed only in Wikipedia. A review of US Food and Drug Administration Prescribing Information and the Adverse Event Reporting System dashboard found support for a respective 17/102 (16.7%) and 92/102 (90.2%) of Lexicomp’s adverse reactions that were not supported in the literature.ConclusionLexicomp is a comprehensive medication information tool that contains lists of adverse reactions that are not entirely supported by primary-peer reviewed literature.
Highlights
In 2006, 80% of American Internet users were reported to have used the Internet to search for health topics [1]
Following a review of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Prescribing Information (PI) and the FDA Adverse Events Reporting Systems (FAERS) dashboard, the number of adverse events that we found support for was presented as percentages
Evaluation of the subcategory information that was present indicated that the medication information provided on Wikipedia was highly variable; a larger medication sample size would be needed to draw further conclusions about the frequency with which specific subcategories of information can be found on Wikipedia
Summary
In 2006, 80% of American Internet users were reported to have used the Internet to search for health topics [1]. Of those who used the Internet, 53% indicated that the information they gained during their health information searches impacted their care for themselves or care for someone else. Since this time, the Internet has gained over 2 billion users globally [2]. Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia that is written and edited continuously by its users [4]. In today’s Web 2.0 online environment, characterized by active participation and collaboration [3], clinicians and patients are faced with a wide array of information sources that include sources based on online collaboration and conventional sources generated by experts.
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