Title: Quality of diabetes related health information on internet: an Indian context

Authors: Kandarp Talati; Vandana Upadhyay; Puneet Gupta; Ashish Joshi

Addresses: Center for Public Health Informatics, AIPH, 1037, Shriram Nagar, Samantarapur, Bhubaneswar – 751002, India ' Center for Public Health Informatics, AIPH, 1037, Shriram Nagar, Samantarapur, Bhubaneswar – 751002, India ' Government College of Dentistry, Sardar Patel Marg, Indore – 452001, India ' Center for Global Health and Development and Department of Health Services Research & Administration, College of Public Health, 984385 Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE 68198-4385, USA

Abstract: Diabetes is a growing public health concern in Indian subcontinent. More and more people are searching internet for health information, however, the quality of internet-based medical information is extremely variable. This study aims to evaluate quality of health information about type-II diabetes mellitus in an Indian context. We used key words 'diabetes', 'diabetes management', 'diabetes prevention' and 'diabetes monitoring' and searched over Google, Yahoo and Bing during August 2011. Two independent reviewers used DISCERN tool to assess quality of health information of the final 84 websites. Majority of the websites were '.com' and DISCERN scores were highest in 'other' category. Inter-rater reliability analysis suggests 81% (N = 17) DISCERN criteria are in substantial agreement between two reviewers. There is no significant difference between two reviewers as well as among four website categories (.com, .edu, .org and others) for reliability of publication, specific details about treatment choices and overall quality rating.

Keywords: diabetes information; health information; internet; evaluation; India; e-healthcare; electronic healthcare; online medical information; type-II diabetes mellitus; information quality; health websites; online health advice.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEH.2013.057408

International Journal of Electronic Healthcare, 2013 Vol.7 No.3, pp.205 - 220

Published online: 01 Nov 2013 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article