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. 2019 May 28;19(1):42.
doi: 10.1186/s12894-019-0474-4.

Radiotherapy for prostate cancer: DISCERN quality assessment of patient-oriented websites in 2018

S Janssen  1   2 , F B Fahlbusch  3 , L Käsmann  4 , D Rades  4 , D Vordermark  5
Affiliations

Radiotherapy for prostate cancer: DISCERN quality assessment of patient-oriented websites in 2018

S Janssen et al. BMC Urol. .

Abstract

Background: Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men. Radiotherapy represents one major treatment option in different therapeutic settings. As patients increasingly rely on internet-based medical information, we examined the quality of information on radiotherapy and prostate cancer in websites used by laypersons.

Methods: An Internet search from a patients` perspective was carried out using different search engines (Google, Yahoo and Bing, search terms: "prostate cancer" and "radiotherapy"). The quality of search results was analyzed with regard to the DISCERN score, HON code certification, the JAMA criteria and the ALEXA traffic rank.

Results: In general, websites were of good quality. The highest quality was found for websites operated by charity organizations. No significant differences in results obtained via the above-mentioned tools were seen for the examined search engines, but Google revealed the most stable search results in terms of temporal changes.

Conclusion: Patients with prostate cancer can sufficiently inform themselves on general treatment options including radiotherapy on websites directed at laypersons. However, no simple strategy could identify high quality websites in general. For treating physicians, it is important to support patients in interpreting and ranking the vast quantity of information.

Keywords: Health-related information; Internet; Online information; Prostate cancer; Radiotherapy.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
a-c: Google, Bing and yahoo search ranking at two different time points (black dots: august 22nd 2017, Open circles: September 9th 2017)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Combined (n = 39 from Google, Bing and Yahoo) box and whiskers (min to max) analysis of the individual DISCERN Plus score items of the first search (mean indicated by +)
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Mean total DISCERN score for the three search engines at two different time points
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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