Darren Hargrave|Ursula A. Hargrave|Éric Bouffet
Quality of health information on the Internet in pediatric neuro-oncology
Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust|Royal Marsden Hospital|Hospital for Sick Children|Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust|Royal Marsden Hospital|Hospital for Sick Children|Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust|Royal Marsden Hospital|Hospital for Sick Children
internet single largest source health information used many patients families affected childhood brain tumorsto assess quality pediatric neurooncology information internet used search engines look information five common tumor types brain stem glioma craniopharyngioma ependymoma lowgrade glioma medulloblastomathe web sites evaluated content quality using validated discern rating instrumentbreadth content accuracy also scored checklist toolreadability statistics computed highestrated sitesof 114 evaluated web sites sources follows institutional 46 commercial 35 charitable 15 support group 2 alternative medicine 2good interobserver correlation found ratings instrumentsthe discern tool rated web sites excellent 4 good 7 fair 29 poor 39 poor 21only 5 web sites provided one inaccurate pieces informationweb sites found deficient topics covering etiology late effects prognosis treatment choicesfew sites offered information languages english readability statistics showed average required reading level us grade 12 suggested level grades 68 adult audiencethe internet increasingly used source oncology information patients familieshealth care professionals actively