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Abstract
Purpose
This study evaluated the information quality of websites that provide information about herniated intervertebral discs (HIVD) and examined the correlation between the information quality score (IQS) and the rank of popularity.
Materials and Methods
From April 1 to May 31, 2005, of 308 homepages that had been searched on three search engines using the key words (vertebra, disc, lumbago, HIVD), 150 homepages with information about HIVD were surveyed. The informational quality score of each homepage was examined according to the existence or nonexistence of 25 criteria and compared the IQS according to the discipline and operating scale. The homepages were rated according to the rank of popularity and the correlations between their point of popularity and informational quality were assessed.
Results
The mean IQS of the 150 homepages were 8.5 (±6.4) points, IQS of 94 (62.6%) homepages were <10 points. There were no significant differences between the IQS of orthopedic surgery and neurosurgery (p=0.985). However, the IQS of oriental medicine were significantly lower than orthopaedic surgery (p<0.001) and neurosurgery (p<0.001). There was no significant correlation between the popularity and IQS (p=0.256).
Figures and Tables
Table 1
Criteria of the Informational Quality Score according to the United States Department of Health and Human Services
Table 4
Informational Quality Score according to the Popularity Score and Discipline
IQS, informational quality score; SD, standard deviation; OS, orthopedic surgery; NS, neurosurgery; OM, oriental medicine; Oth, the others; *Compared IQS between popularity score≥1 and=0 using Student's t-test, †Compared IQS between OS, NS, OM and Oth using ANOVA test according to popularity score. ‡There were significant differences between the disciplines in the group of the popularity score=0, each p values were 0.001 (between OS and OM), 0.011 (NS and OM), <0.001 (OS and Oth), 0.004 (NS and Oth), 0.992 (OS and NS), 0.993 (OM and Oth).
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