Healthy Skepticism Library item: 7918

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: Journal Article

Hailemeskel B, Gavgani MZ.
Assessment of accuracy and completeness of the prescription drug information on the Internet
ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting 2000 Dec; 35:

Abstract:

Numerous studies evaluate the quality and accuracy of the health related information provided through the Internet. Despite the uniformity of the goal, each one of the studies has followed a different path and has used a different methodology. Some have looked at the information regarding a particular disease state while some others have looked at the information related to a particular medication. This project is an attempt to evaluate information related to some of the Web Pages that provide information about a randomly selected prescription drug from each of the following 5 categories: Hypertension (amlodipine (Norvasc)), Diabetes (insulin), Arthritis (celecoxib (Celebrex)), Asthma (albuterol (Proventil/Ventoline)), and Hyperlipidemia (simvastatin (Zocor)). Several sites will be chosen from the web pages related to each drug. The selection will be based on the type of the organization that has created these web sites. The criteria for inclusion of the web pages include government agencies, pharmaceutical industries, news agencies, academic institutions (universities), and online pharmacies. Each web page will be evaluated for its accuracy and content of the information. The evaluation criteria will include: indications for use, side effects, contraindications, mechanism of action, use in pregnancy, pharmacokinetics, dosage forms, usual doses, allergies, and drug interactions. The package insert on each individual drug will be used as a standard reference to evaluate the accuracy and the content of each web page. A point system will be developed for each category of information that presents or is missing. Descriptive statistical analysis will be used to analyze the data.