RESUMO
La educación es un determinante mayor de salud y uno de los predictores independientes de desenlace en artritis reumatoide (AR). El uso del Internet por pacientes ha crecido en forma exponencial en la última década. Objetivos. Evaluar las características, legibilidad y calidad de la información disponible en Internet en idioma español en relación con la AR. Material y métodos. Se buscó la frase AR en Google. Se evaluaron las primeras 30 páginas de resultados de acuerdo con un formato diseñado ex profeso (relevancia, autoría, tipo de publicación, enfermedad discutida e interés financiero); además se evaluaron la calidad y la legibilidad de las páginas, con las herramientas DISCERN e INFLESZ, respectivamente. La extracción de datos se realizó por médicos pasantes y la evaluación fue por consenso. Resultados. Se obtuvieron 323 resultados, pero solo el 63% de ellos fueron relevantes; el 80% de estos fueron sitios de información (71% discutían exclusivamente AR, 44% terapia convencional y 12% terapias alternativas). Un 12,5% tenía interés financiero. El 60% de los sitios fueron creados por organizaciones no lucrativas y 15% por asociaciones médicas. Las asociaciones médicas de Estados Unidos de América se posicionan mejor en español (Arthritis Foundation en la posición 4 y el American College of Rheumatology en la 10) que los sitios web de países de habla hispana. Conclusiones. Existe riesgo de desinformación para los pacientes con AR que utilizan la Web. Se identifica además áreas de oportunidad para instituciones médicas de países de habla hispana para tener un mayor involucramiento social en la educación de sus pacientes (AU)
Background. Education is a major health determinant and one of the main independent outcome predictors in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The use of the Internet by patients has grown exponentially in the last decade. Objective. To assess the characteristics, legibility and quality of the information available in Spanish in the Internet regarding to rheumatoid arthritis. Material and methods. The search was performed in Google using the phrase rheumatoid arthritis. Information from the first 30 pages was evaluated according to a pre-established format (relevance, scope, authorship, type of publication and financial objective). The quality and legibility of the pages were assessed using two validated tools, DISCERN and INFLESZ respectively. Data extraction was performed by senior medical students and evaluation was achieved by consensus. Results. The Google search returned 323 hits but only 63% were considered relevant; 80% of them were information sites (71% discussed exclusively RA, 44% conventional treatment and 12% alternative therapies) and 12.5% had a primary financial interest. 60% of the sites were created by nonprofit organizations and 15% by medical associations. Web sites posted by medical institutions from the United States of America were better positioned in Spanish (Arthritis Foundation 4th position and American College of Rheumatology 10th position) than web sites posted by Spanish speaking countries. Conclusions. There is a risk of disinformation for patients with RA that use the Internet. We identified a window of opportunity for rheumatology medical institutions from Spanish-speaking countries to have a more prominent societal involvement in the education of their patients with RA (AU)
Assuntos
Humanos , Artrite Reumatoide/tratamento farmacológico , Antirreumáticos/uso terapêutico , Informação de Saúde ao Consumidor/tendências , Gestão da Informação/métodos , Controle de Qualidade , Internet , Educação em Saúde/tendênciasRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Education is a major health determinant and one of the main independent outcome predictors in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The use of the Internet by patients has grown exponentially in the last decade. OBJECTIVE: To assess the characteristics, legibility and quality of the information available in Spanish in the Internet regarding to rheumatoid arthritis. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The search was performed in Google using the phrase rheumatoid arthritis. Information from the first 30 pages was evaluated according to a pre-established format (relevance, scope, authorship, type of publication and financial objective). The quality and legibility of the pages were assessed using two validated tools, DISCERN and INFLESZ respectively. Data extraction was performed by senior medical students and evaluation was achieved by consensus. RESULTS: The Google search returned 323 hits but only 63% were considered relevant; 80% of them were information sites (71% discussed exclusively RA, 44% conventional treatment and 12% alternative therapies) and 12.5% had a primary financial interest. 60% of the sites were created by nonprofit organizations and 15% by medical associations. Web sites posted by medical institutions from the United States of America were better positioned in Spanish (Arthritis Foundation 4th position and American College of Rheumatology 10th position) than web sites posted by Spanish speaking countries. CONCLUSIONS: There is a risk of disinformation for patients with RA that use the Internet. We identified a window of opportunity for rheumatology medical institutions from Spanish-speaking countries to have a more prominent societal involvement in the education of their patients with RA.
Assuntos
Artrite Reumatoide , Compreensão , Informação de Saúde ao Consumidor/estatística & dados numéricos , Internet , Idioma , Qualidade da Assistência à Saúde/estatística & dados numéricos , Artrite Reumatoide/diagnóstico , Artrite Reumatoide/terapia , Informação de Saúde ao Consumidor/normas , Estudos Transversais , Humanos , Ferramenta de BuscaRESUMO
The aim of this study was to assess the changes in the characteristics of rheumatoid arthritis information on the Internet over a 15-year period and the positioning of Web sites posted by universities, hospitals, and medical associations. We replicated the methods of a 2001 study assessing rheumatoid arthritis information on the Internet using WebCrawler. All Web sites and pages were critically assessed for relevance, scope, authorship, type of publication, and financial objectives. Differences between studies were considered significant if 95 % confidence intervals did not overlap. Additionally, we added a Google search with assessments of the quality of content of web pages and of the Web sites posted by medical institutions. There were significant differences between the present study's WebCrawler search and the 2001-referent study. There were increases in information sites (82 vs 36 %) and rheumatoid arthritis-specific discussion pages (59 vs 8 %), and decreases in advertisements (2 vs 48 %) and alternative therapies (27 vs 45 %). The quality of content of web pages is still dispersed; just 37 % were rated as good. Among the first 300 hits, 30 (10 %) were posted by medical institutions, 17 of them in the USA. Regarding readability, 7 % of these 30 web pages required 6 years, 27 % required 7-9 years, 27 % required 10-12 years, and 40 % required 12 or more years of schooling. The Internet has evolved in the last 15 years. Medical institutions are also better positioned. However, there are still areas for improvement, such as the quality of the content, leadership of medical institutions, and readability of information.
