Authors' objectives: The general aim of this report was to pinpoint Websites that provide quality-checked health-related information that could be included as links on the Website of the Andalusian Agency for Healthcare Technology Assessment (AETSA). Specific aims: - To define a listing of Websites providing quality health-related information intended for a general group of patients and a further list aimed at specific patient groups (diabetics, the elderly, etc). - To assess the quality of the Websites in line with the criteria set down in codes of conduct and other measures such as popularity of links, Google's page ranking and the presence of quality seals. - To assess the quality of the content on the Websites selected in the final listing. - To examine whether there is a clear relationship between quality in line with codes of conduct and the quality of Webpage content.

Authors' results and conclusions: Expert consultation: The consultation with experts gave rise to two lists of Websites providing health information, one for general groups of patients listing 25 Websites and a second list with 21 sites for specific patient groups. Quality in line with codes of conduct, page rank and quality seals: Quality assessment based on compliance with codes of conduct entails a wide variety of very diverse issues that should be covered by a Website. Cases were seen of very good compliance in one area and low compliance in another. The scores for each site for each of the components assessed are shown in the text, with special emphasis on the high-compliance Websites. In summary, Fisterra is the Website that covers the highest number of components (6 out of 7) in the code of conduct criteria assessment with top scores: transparency, editorial policy, authorship, updates, personal data protection and accessibility. This site is followed, according to the total compliance score for the various components, by sites such as: pulevasalud.com, viatusalud.com, Medlineplus.gov, respirar.org, cdc.gov, lasalud.com, 4woman.gov, noah-health.org and cancer.gov. Quality of contents: The following Websites are outstanding in quality of content providing the best information: Medlineplus, fisterra, the Spanish Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs and the US Institute of Health, with three top scores out of the four areas assessed. With two top scores for issues were: familydoctor, lasalud, the World Health Organisation and the Women's Health Information Centre at the US Institutes of Health. Relationship between quality in compliance with codes of conduct and content: The two components for quality in compliance with codes of conduct that bear a positive and statistically significant correlation (p < 0.05) with a larger number of the remaining factors were editorial policy (that correlated with all dimensions except for liability) and accessibility (that correlated with all dimensions except transparency). Also, these two dimensions have a significant, direct correlation with the quality of content. In the logistic regression analysis, both editorial policy and accessibility had a significant, direct association with information on the risks of hormone replacement therapy.

Authors' recommendations: The best quality Websites found in this survey according to the information provided on risks, editorial policy, accessibility and the total score for quality components in line with codes of conduct were: 1. Sites targeting general groups of patients www.fisterra.com http://medlineplus.gov/spanish www.lasalud.com www.pulevasalud.com www.cdc.gov/spanish/ www.noah-health.org 2. Sites targeting specific groups of patients www.4woman.gov/spanish www.respirar.org www.cancer.gov/espazol www.todosvacunados.com www.diabetesjuvenil.com www.espalda.org www.aepap.org - In the quality assessment according to compliance with codes of conduct, Fisterra is the site that best covers most areas (6 out of 7): transparency, editorial policy, authorship, updates, personal data protection and accessibility. According to the total score for compliance with different components, Fisterra is followed by sites such as: pulevasalud.com, viatusalud.com, Medlineplus.gov, respirar.org, cdc.gov, lasalud.com, 4woman.gov, noah-health.org and cancer.gov. - As for the quality of contents, the Websites providing the best information were Medlineplus, fisterra, the Spanish Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs and the US National Health Institutes, with three out of the four areas scoring very high. With only two top scores were: familydoctor, lasalud, the World Health Organisation and the Women's Health Information Center at the US National Health Institutes. - Of all the components for assessment based on compliance with criteria set in codes of conduct, editorial policy and accessibility are closely linked to better information on the risks of hormone relacement therapy. - Quality components in line with codes of conduct are more closely associated with quality of information on the risks of HRT and, secondarily, to information on the benefits of HRT. However, none of these dimensions was associated with a greater or lesser presence of either unproven benefits of hormone replacement therapy or preventive measures.

Authors' methods: Review

Project Status: Completed

URL for project: https://www.aetsa.org/publicacion/seleccion-y-evaluacion-de-sitios-web-dirigidos-a-pacientes-referidos-al-campo-de-la-salud/

Year Published: 2006

URL for published report: https://www.aetsa.org/download/publicaciones/antiguas/AETSA_P_2006_1_Sitios_web.pdf

English language abstract: An English language summary is available

Publication Type: Not Assigned

Country: Spain

Organisation Name: Andalusian Health Technology Assessment Area

Contact Address: Area de Evaluacion de Tecnologias Sanitarias Sanitarias de Andalucia (AETSA) Avda. Innovación, s/n Edificio Arena 1. Sevilla (Spain) Tel. +34 955 006 309

Contact Name: aetsa.csalud@juntadeandalucia.es

Contact Email: aetsa.csalud@juntadeandalucia.es

Copyright: Andalusian Agency for Health Technology Assessment (AETSA)