Internet Information on Oral Cancer Drugs: a Critical Comparison between Website Providers

Abstract

Cancer patients need access to high-quality information, when making decisions about oral cancer drugs. The internet is often used as a source of information published by highly heterogeneous providers. The objective was to evaluate the quality of website providers supplying online information about oral cancer drugs. One hundred websites were analyzed using content-related and formal criteria, selected from three existing evaluation methods used for cancer websites, for medical information (defined by the German Agency for Quality in Medicine), and for the “fact box” tool. A web search by a patient was simulated to identify websites to evaluate. ANOVA was used to assess information provided by non-profit organizations (governmental and non-governmental), online newspapers, for-profit organizations, and private/unknown providers. Content-related quality differences were found between online newspapers and all other categories, with online newspapers ranking significantly lower than for-profit and non-profit websites. As for formal criteria, for-profit providers scored significantly lower than non-profit providers and online newspapers for the aspect of transparency. Internet information on oral cancer drugs published by non-profit organizations constitutes the best available web-based source of information for cancer patients. Health literacy and e-health literacy should be promoted in the public domain to allow patients to reliably apply web-based information. Certification should be required by law to ensure fulfillment of requirements for data reliability and transparency (authorship and funding) before health professionals recommend websites to cancer patients.