Abstract
BackgroundThe global prevalence of diabetes mellitus is projected to reach approximately 700 million by the year 2045, with roughly 90–95% of all diabetes cases being type 2 in nature. Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) frequently seek information about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) online. This study assessed the quality of publicly accessible websites providing consumer health information at the intersection of T2DM and CAM.MethodsAn online search engine (Google) was searched to identify pertinent websites containing information specific to CAM for T2DM patients, and the relevant websites were then screened with an eligibility criteria. Consumer health information found on eligible websites were then assessed for quality using the DISCERN instrument, a 16-item standardized scoring system.ResultsAcross the 480 webpages identified, 94 unique webpages remained following deduplication, and 37 eligible webpages belonged to and were collapsed into 30 unique websites that were each assessed using the DISCERN instrument. The mean overall quality score (question 16) across all 30 assessed websites was 3.55 (SD = 0.86), and the mean summed DISCERN score was 52.40 (SD = 12.11). Eighty percent of websites presented a wide range of CAM treatment options with the associated benefits/risks of each treatment, but in 56.7% of the websites, the sources used to collect information were unreliable.ConclusionThis study identified, assessed, and presents findings on the quality of online CAM information for T2DM. Although there were several high scoring websites, there was variability across most of the individual DISCERN items in the assessed websites. This study highlights the importance of awareness among healthcare providers regarding the reliability of online information about CAM treatment and management options for T2DM. Healthcare providers should be aware of patients' information seeking behaviour, guide them in navigating through the content they encounter online, and provide them with resources containing trustworthy and reliable information.
Highlights
The global prevalence of diabetes mellitus is projected to reach approximately 700 million by the year 2045, with roughly 90–95% of all diabetes cases being type 2 in nature
Eligibility criteria Websites were screened for eligibility and were included if they contained complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) consumer health information pertaining to the treatment and/or management of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM)
64 webpages were excluded for the following reasons: were peer-reviewed articles (n = 40), did not discuss any CAM therapies and/or recommendations (n = 11), were webpages from the same website (n = 7), were video websites (n = 3), did not discuss diabetes (n = 2), or was a news website that did not provide consumer health information (n = 1)
Summary
The global prevalence of diabetes mellitus is projected to reach approximately 700 million by the year 2045, with roughly 90–95% of all diabetes cases being type 2 in nature. Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) frequently seek information about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) online. Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) roughly accounts for 90–95% of all cases [2]. The global prevalence of diabetes mellitus is projected to reach approximately 700 million by the year 2045 [1]. Patients with T2DM typically display elevated blood glucose levels [5]. Treatment for T2DM typically includes lifestyle changes as well as the use of oral hypoglycaemics to promote glucose uptake [5, 6]. The chronic nature of T2DM can have adverse physiological effects on individuals over time including retinopathy, neuropathy and diabetic ulcers [3]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
