Do you Google your health problems?

Diagnosing using the net

What do you do if you can't get to the doctor, or if you fear that something is wrong with your child? Have you ever found yourself typing the medical problem, or what you suspect is the problem into Google? You won't be alone as many people do this, but a team of researchers from the UK have warned that doing this is unlikely to deliver much in the way of good advice.

The Nottingham-based team used the search engine to find UK-based advice on five common issues, including breastfeeding and autism.

It was found that only around 200 of the 500 sites offered correct information, Archives of Disease in Childhood reports. With government-run sites the only completely reliable source, they found.

It is now estimated that 70 percent of UK households have access to the internet, and increasingly, parents are turning to search engines for a second opinion - or even a sole one - on medical matters, the BBC reported.

Doctors concern

Many doctors are concerned that the huge quantity of information and advice is at best unreliable, and in some cases misleading, or worse still, dangerous.

"Healthcare professionals should continue to strive to be the main source of information for patients but we should be aware that most will continue to use theinternet to gather information," stated the study authors, Paul Scullard, Clare Peacock and Patrick Davies from the NHS Trust.

One earlier study looking at advice for children with a fever found only three out of 22 sites visited gave information which matched current "best practice" guidelines.

The researchers from Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust tested this by typing key words from commonly-asked questions into Google, restricting results to UK-based sites only.

The five chosen were "MMR autism", "HIV breastfeeding", "mastitis breastfeeding", "baby sleeping position" and "green vomit". Through the key words, they found the quality of advice varied significantly, with half the search results failing to answer the intended question.

In total, 11 percent of the 500 results gave inaccurate information, and 39 percent gave the right answer. The most incorrect replies were given to search results about MMR and autism, and HIV and breastfeeding.

News websites were only accurate 55 percent of the time, according to the results.

Jodie Humphries

Jodie Humphries graduated from Bath Spa University with a BA Hons in Creative Writing in 2008. She has worked for GDS Publishing for the digital group since July 2009. She has previous experience with writing for the web, running her own website since April 2007.

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