Osteosarcoma: evaluation of information on the internet.

The information about osteosarcoma on the existing websites was examined. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the quality of Internet information available to patients on the topic of osteosarcoma. The secondary purpose was to rank the identified websites with respect to the caliber of relevant information provided by the websites sponsors' identity. A great many of people in the world "surf" the World Wide Web, searching for medical information. The information on the Internet varies dramatically in terms of content and quality for lack of uniformed standard with respect to the medical publications on the Internet. Five search engines searched the search terms "osteosarcoma." The first 25 links displayed by each engine were evaluated for a theoretical total of 125 websites. According to the information context, sponsor identity we evaluated each website. An information quality score of 0 to 26 was generated for each site. A score of 20 or greater was thought to be "high-quality" information website. Eighty-nine unique websites were identified, among which only 8 (9%) scored 20 or more on the information quality score; 32 scored 10 or less. The overall mean information quality score was 11.5. The websites with highest mean scores were academic organization and affiliated hospitals of university. The quality of Internet information on osteosarcoma is variable. Less than 10% of relevant websites were of high information value. The rank list of high quality websites from our information quality score should provide useful information of osteosarcoma.