BMJ  2004;328:769 (27 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7442.769-b

Letter

Websites on screening for breast cancer

"Infodemiology" studies have surely had their day

The first 100% of the full text of this article appears below.

EDITOR—Jørgensen and Gøtzsche's study made me yawn: they searched the world wide web on a topic and found no information.^{1 2} Amazing that the BMJ is still publishing such "infodemiology" studies. That authors affiliated with a Cochrane Centre do not cite a relevant systematic review that could have informed methods and discussion of this study is, however, interesting.³

Some investigators still evaluate websites as if they were information pamphlets. To evaluate the comprehensiveness of a printed pamphlet (where it can be assumed the patient is not using anything else) may make sense, but to evaluate a website under the aspect of completeness does not take into account that people are usually gathering information from different websites.⁴

Centre for Global eHealth Innovation, Toronto, Canada M5G2K5 geysenba@uhnres.utoronto.ca

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Competing interests: None declared.

1. Jørgensen KJ, Gøtzsche PC. Presentation on websites of possible benefits and harms from screening for breast cancer: cross sectional study. BMJ 2004;328: 148. (17 January.)[Abstract/Free Full Text]
2. Eysenbach G. Infodemiology: the epidemiology of (mis)information. Am J Med 2002;113: 763-5.[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline]
3. Eysenbach G, Powell J, Kuss O, Sa ER. Empirical studies assessing the quality of health information for consumers on the world wide web: a systematic review. JAMA 2002;287: 2691-700.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
4. Eysenbach G, Köhler C. How do consumers search for and appraise health information on the world wide web? Qualitative study using focus groups, usability tests and in-depth interviews. BMJ 2002;324: 573-7.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

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