Googling Could Be Bad For Your Health

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

According to a new University of Florida study, using search engines could result in low quality health information that may be hazardous to patients

In a study of more than 2,000 health-related terms using the search engine Google, a team of researchers from the University of Florida found results were of mixed quality. While many of the searches led to accredited websites, including those certified by Medline Plus and The Health on the Net Foundation, others were of low quality and deemed potentially hazardous.

According to iHealthBeat, more than half of the results did come from high quality accredited websites, but researchers still recommend patients see their physician for proper diagnosis and treatment.

“Searches for terms related to preventive health and social health issues tend to produce lower quality results than terms related to diagnosis and treatment of physical disease or injury,” explain researchers. “While the overall prevalence of high quality information is greater than that of low quality, the observed variance across health-related terms has important implications for consumers, policy makers, health information providers, and search engines.”

• 65 percent of searches on diagnostic and treatment information for medical conditions resulted in certified or referenced websites
• 35 percent of searches for preventive and wellness information resulted in certified or referenced websites

According to Christopher Harle, study co-author and assistant professor at the UF College of Public Health and Health Professions, providers "may feel more confident that patients can find good health information on the Internet.

"So, rather than recommending patients avoid Internet searches for health information, providers may consider helping patients develop good strategies for recognizing high-quality information over questionable information."