Quality of information on weight loss drugs from South American websites

Abstract

In the face of digital technologies that help search for health information, an assessment of the quality of available information is necessary. This study aimed to evaluate the quality of information on weight loss drugs on websites available in South America. Websites from five countries in South America, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Uruguay, were selected using the Google search tool in Portuguese and Spanish, with content about weight loss drugs. The quality of the information was analyzed using a specific health tool, while the pharmacological content was analyzed using a tool specifically created by the Delphi method. Seventy-six websites from Argentina, Brazil and Chile (20 websites each) and Colombia and Uruguay each with eight evaluated websites, were analyzed. Uruguay presented low-quality information on all websites for all the dimensions analyzed, while Brazil and Colombia presented low-quality information in the pharmacological dimension. In the final data, 92% (p = 0.9934) of the websites were considered low quality and the rest were of moderate quality. We observed low-quality information on South American websites regarding weight loss drugs where there is a risk that the user's understanding and ultimately their quality of life may be adversely affected. • Weight loss drugs websites in South America have a low quality of information. • Internet information on obesity pharmacology presented the worst quality. • The lack of regulation on the internet spreads fake news.