Fax: (713) 745-4926
Original Article
You have full text access to this OnlineOpen article
Commonly cited website quality criteria are not effective at identifying inaccurate online information about breast cancer
Article first published online: 11 FEB 2008
DOI: 10.1002/cncr.23308
Copyright © 2008 American Cancer Society
Additional Information
How to Cite
Bernstam, E. V., Walji, M. F., Sagaram, S., Sagaram, D., Johnson, C. W. and Meric-Bernstam, F. (2008), Commonly cited website quality criteria are not effective at identifying inaccurate online information about breast cancer. Cancer, 112: 1206–1213. doi: 10.1002/cncr.23308
Publication History
- Issue published online: 3 MAR 2008
- Article first published online: 11 FEB 2008
- Manuscript Accepted: 9 OCT 2007
- Manuscript Revised: 12 SEP 2007
- Manuscript Received: 20 JUL 2007
Funded by
- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
- Health e-Technologies
- National Library of Medicine. Grant Number: 5K22LM008306
- National Center for Research Resources. Grant Number: 1UL1RR024148
- Interdisciplinary Biosciences Training
- National Library of Medicine. Grant Number: 5T15LM07093
REFERENCES
- 1,,. Information gathering over time by breast cancer patients. J Med Internet Res. 2003; 5: e15.
- 2,. Vital decisions: how internet users decide what information to trust when they or their loved ones are sick. Washington, DC: Pew Internet & American Life Project; 2002. Located on URL: http://www.pewinternet.org/
- 3,,, et al. Trust and sources of health information: the impact of the Internet and its implications for health care providers: findings from the first Health Information National Trends Survey. Arch Intern Med. 2005; 165: 2618–2624.
- 4,. Informing patients: a guide for providing patient health information. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 1998; 5: 563–570.
- 5,. The patient-physician relationship in the internet age: future prospects and the research agenda. J Med Internet Res. 2001; 3: e15.
- 6,. The online health care revolution: how the Web helps Americans take better care of themselves. Washington, DC: Pew Internet and American Life Project: Online, 2000. Located on URL: http://www.pewinternet.org/
- 7,,,,. Hope and the media in advanced cancer patients [abstract]. Proc Am Soc Clin Oncol. 2000; 19. Abstract 2479.
- 8,,, et al. Perceptions about complementary therapies relative to conventional therapies among adults who use both: results from a national survey. Ann Intern Med. 2001; 135: 344–351.
- 9,,, et al. Health information on the Internet: accessibility, quality, and readability in English and Spanish. JAMA. 2001; 285: 2612–2621.
- 10,,,. Evaluation of cancer information on the Internet. Cancer. 1999; 86: 381–390.Direct Link:
- 11,,, et al. Breast cancer on the world wide web: cross sectional survey of quality of information and popularity of websites. BMJ. 2002; 324: 577–581.
- 12. Infodemiology: The epidemiology of (mis)information. Am J Med. 2002; 113: 763–765.
- 13,. Rating health information on the Internet: navigating to knowledge or to Babel? JAMA. 1998; 279: 611–614.
- 14,. Filtering Web pages for quality indicators: an empirical approach to finding high quality consumer health information on the World Wide Web. Proc AMIA Symp. 1999: 911–915.
- 15,,,,. Usability of quality measures for online health information: can commonly used technical quality criteria be reliably assessed? Int J Med Inform. 2005; 74: 675–683.
- 16,,,. Instruments to assess the quality of health information on the World Wide Web: what can our patients actually use? Int J Med Inform. 2005; 74: 13–19.
- 17,,, et al. Efficacy of quality criteria to identify potentially harmful information: a cross-sectional survey of complementary and alternative medicine web sites. J Med Internet Res. 2004; 6: e21.
- 18,. How do consumers search for and appraise health information on the World Wide Web? Qualitative study using focus groups, usability tests, and in-depth interviews. BMJ. 2002; 324: 573–577.
- 19Ask an Expert. Available at: http://www.justanswer.com/?r=gagen&gclid=CNGs1e6a9pACFQKHPAodMh703Q. Accessed 2003.
- 20,. Surgical options for breast cancer. In: HuntKK,RobbG,StromEA,UenoNT, eds. Breast Cancer. New York: Springer-Verlag; 2001.
- 21Breast cancer: treatment guidelines for patients (version V). American Cancer Society and National Comprehensive Cancer Network; 2003. Available at: URL:http://www.nccn.org/professionals/physician_gls/about.asp. Accessed on January 7, 2004.
- 22,,, et al. American Cancer Society guidelines for breast cancer screening: update 2003. CA Cancer J Clin. 2003; 53: 141–169.Direct Link:
- 23,. Breast cancer. In: PappasTN,PurcellGP,EubanksWS,TylerDS,VaslefSN, eds. Unbound Surgery [on CD-ROM]. Charlottesville, VA: Unbound Medicine; 2002.
- 24,. Single-sample tests for many correlations. Psychological Bulletin. 1977; 84: 557–569.
- 25. Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. 2nd ed. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1988.
- 26,,. Assessing, controlling, and assuring the quality of medical information on the Internet: Caveant lector et viewor–Let the reader and viewer beware. JAMA. 1997; 277: 1244–1245.
- 27. Why is it difficult to find comprehensive information? Implications of information scatter for search and design. J Am Soc Inf Sci Technol. 2005; 56: 989–1003.Direct Link:
- 28,,. Analysis of cases of harm associated with use of health information on the Internet. JAMA. 2002; 287: 2869–2871.

1097-0142/asset/olbannerleft.gif?v=1&s=ca681f5719430b26e1bc15e9ea4c9fc0a7110104)
1097-0142/asset/olbannerright.gif?v=1&s=8142566facf7e76aef9be6c51162a2e920b3b9f9)
1097-0142/asset/cover.gif?v=1&s=a7299bc18f075294c232ade468773cd0672bd470)