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Doctors Review Scoliosis-Related Web Sites

Millions of people use the Internet every year to get medical information. Doctors at the SUNY Health Science Center in New York checked information about scoliosis posted on the Internet.

Three board-certified orthopedic surgeons reviewed the information for accuracy. All doctors were spine experts with at least eight years of practice. They present the results in this report.

Five search engines were used. A total of 50 web sites were reviewed. The web sites were divided into five different kinds. The groups included academic, commercial, physician, nonphysician health professional, and unidentified (for example, message boards).

The results of this study showed that most of the websites scored poorly for content and accuracy of materials. This was true even for academic sites.

The authors are concerned about the accuracy of medical information on the Internet. They suggest doctors welcome patients who are interested in their own health. Doctors should remain the main source of information for patients on topics like scoliosis. Physicians should be aware of what's on the web. Any websites posted by physicians should be reviewed and updated regularly.

References: Sameer Mathur, MD, et al. Surfing for Scoliosis: The Quality of Information Available on the Internet. In Spine. December 1, 2005. Vol. 30. No. 23. Pp. 2695-2700.

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