Can patients expect reliable health information from online searches on haemorrhoids?

Abstract

Aim: To analyse the quality of health information on the Internet on haemorrhoids across five Western Languages and performed a comparative analysis of website sponsors.

Summary of Background Data: Haemorrhoids are a common condition affecting the haemorrhoid cushions of the anal canal. There are many treatment options available. Information on the Internet on haemorrhoids is considered variable, but there is little data analysis which to support this.

Methods World Health Organization Health on the Net (HON) principles were utilised to assess quality website information. Eleven keywords related to colorectal cancer were used in the Google search engine (http://www.google.com, Google, CA, USA) in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. The first 150 websites in each language had their HON principles and sponsorship determined.

Results Of the 8250 websites analysed, 586 (7.1%) were found to HON-accredited. The rate of HON-accreditation ranged from 2.0% (piles) to 10.0% (haemorrhoids), with higher-ranking results having higher rates of HON accreditation.

Conclusion There is a paucity of high-quality information in on the Internet, however the Google search algorithm prioritises high quality information in its web search results.