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Session: ePoster: Education, Training Assessment, and Practice Management 1 (Sun8)

EP271 - Assessing Reliability and Quality of Consumer Online Health Information for Benign Anorectal Conditions Using Common Search Engines

Sunday, May 11, 2025
8:10 AM – 8:15 AM PT
Location: Monitor 5, Sails Pavilion, Upper Level

    ePoster Presenter(s)

  • KC

    Katie Carsky, MD, MS

    Resident Physician
    Lenox Hill Hospital, Northwell Health
    New York, NY, United States

    All of the relevant financial relationships listed below have been mitigated.
    This individual has no financial relationships with ineligible companies.

    • Author(s)

  • MB

    Malk Beydoun, MD

    Resident Physician
    Lenox Hill Hospital, Northwell Health
    New York, New York, United States

    All of the relevant financial relationships listed below have been mitigated.
    This individual has no financial relationships with ineligible companies.

  • KJ

    Kavita Jain, MD

    Resident Physician
    Lenox Hill Hospital
    New York, New York, United States

    Disclosure information not submitted.

    • Senior Author(s)

  • RW

    Richard L. Whelan, MD, FACRS

    Attending Surgeon
    NORTHWELL HEALTH, LENOX HILL HOSPITAL
    New York, New York, United States

    Disclosure information not submitted.

All of the relevant financial relationships listed below have been mitigated.
Katie Carsky, MD, MS: This individual has no financial relationships with ineligible companies.
Malk Beydoun, MD: This individual has no financial relationships with ineligible companies.
Image or Table (Do Not add text here):

Purpose/Background: Patients commonly use online search engines to garner information about health conditions and treatments. The most used search engine is Google, accounting for 87.93% of searches from August 2023 to August 2024. It has been shown that most users will not search beyond the first two pages of results and that 25-40% and 10-20% of users will click the first and second non-advertisement links provided, respectively. The DISCERN tool is a validated scoring system that evaluates the quality and reliability of consumer health information, such as publicly available websites. The aim of our study is to assess the quality and reliability of readily available online information on common benign anorectal conditions using the DISCERN tool.

Methods/Interventions: We used Google to search the terms “hemorrhoids,” “anal fistula,” “anorectal fistula,” “anal abscess,” “perianal abscess,”, and “anal fissure.” Suggested websites are subject to change with time and location, so websites on the first and second page on 9/21/24 in Manhattan were assessed. Duplicates, advertisements, incorrect topics, and log-in or paid websites were excluded. All other websites from the first two pages were included, and any website suggested first by the Google “snippet” feature was considered the first hit. The DISCERN tool was used by three separate reviewers to assess quality and reliability. The maximum score for each independent source of information is 80 points, with up to 40 points for reliability, 35 for quality of information, and 5 additional points for the material as a whole. The mean score was calculated for each search term along with the mean score by quality and reliability questions. Domains were evaluated as organization, government, academic, or private.

Results/Outcomes: Each term produced 13 to 17 hits that met inclusion criteria in the first two pages of results. Mean DISCERN scores for websites ranged from 16 to 66. The majority were in the Poor category (score 27-38) with 39.1% (36/92) of all searches. Most hits were Poor for 4 of 6 search terms, and Very Poor for “anal abscess” and “perianal abscess.” More websites lost points for reliability than quality. The most common domain was organization (.org) with 47.8% (44/92).

Conclusion/Discussion: Patients often use online search engines to find information on benign anorectal conditions and their treatments. Most of the online health information that is readily available to patients via the most common search engine is considered Poor quality and reliability. This knowledge places an emphasis on the importance of creating online health information that is accurate, thorough, and evidence-based for patients. With the majority of websites falling under the organization domain category, these organizations should be encouraged to create or revise these websites. The DISCERN tool may serve as a framework for creating high quality and reliability health information.