Evaluation of internet information about pneumothorax

Abstract

To assess reliability and readability of online internet information on pneumothorax. The terms “pneumothorax”, “tension pneumothorax”, “collapsed lung” and, “chest tube” were searched in a search engine in 3 different geographic location via VPN. 507 unsuitable websites were excluded from 600 websites obtained as a result of scanning. 93 websites were included in the analysis. Reliability of information was evaluated using the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) benchmark criteria, National Library of Medicine (NLM) trustworthy score and the Health on the Net code (HONcode) seal accreditation. Readability was evaluated using the Flesh-Kincaid reading scores and other readability formulas. Of the 93 websites, 45 (48.3%) has HONcode certified. The mean JAMA benchmarks score was 2.04 (±1.01) and National library of medicine trustworthy score was 6.38 (±2.25). The mean Flesh-Kincaid Ease Score of the articles was 47.99 (±17.80). All articles were of at least a high school sophomore grade level (15-16 years old) according to Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level, SMOG, Gunning Fog, Coleman-Liau, and Automated Readability Index. The reliability scores of most websites were found to be considerable low and readability was poor. As more and more people access the internet for health-related information, the need for search engines that only contain reliable health-related content is increasing.