Accuracy of Internet guidance on pediatric otolaryngology procedures.

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the reliability and accuracy of the most visited Internet websites for the frequently performed surgical pediatric otorhinolaryngology procedures.

STUDY: A google.com search was used to determine the top 20 Internet sites for the terms 'adenoidectomy', 'tonsillectomy' and 'ventilation tube surgery'. The DISCERN plus questionnaire was used to score each website. Furthermore, a 'hit list' of reliable and accurate websites was created depending on the most clicked healthcare organizations with corporate identities and the personal websites of the otolaryngologists with academic titles who were members of the Turkish Society of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery. The pages were also investigated as if they were in this list of accurate websites.

RESULTS

Of the 60 websites viewed for the terms 'adenoidectomy', 'tonsillectomy' and 'ventilation tube surgery', only 23.3% were matching the list of accurate websites. The mean DISCERN plus score was 35.70 (16-58), 38.02 (16-80) and 39.08 (16-58) for adenoidectomy, tonsillectomy and ventilation tube surgery respectively. There was no significant difference between the three groups (p>0.05). The mean DISCERN plus score for all the websites was 37.37 out of the maximum score of 80.

CONCLUSIONS

In the light of our results we can conclude that the quality of data on the Internet is not adequate enough to obtain information about the most frequent surgical procedures in pediatric otorhinolaryngology. Clinicians must be aware about this fact and warn the parents about the disinformation which may lead to wrong decisions.