Dissemination of 'patient-oriented evidence that matters' on the Internet:: the case of Type 2 diabetes treatment

Aims To evaluate the dissemination of patient-oriented evidence that matters (POEMs) derived from the UK Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS) through health information websites. Methods Google and Altavista search engines were used to generate a list of websites about Type 2 diabetes treatments. We evaluated a random sample of 50 websites from each list, plus the first 10 websites displayed on each search engine looking for the presence of POEMs about diabetes treatment derived from the UKPDS. Websites were also ranked using the DISCERN instrument. Results The final sample consisted of 66 websites. The most frequently stated item was that tight blood pressure decreased complications and/or mortality (55.5%). The effects of metformin on morbidity and/or mortality in overweight patients and the greater effect of control of blood pressure rather than blood glucose control on complications were stated in 18.2 and 16.7% of cases, whereas the lack of effect of tight blood glucose control on premature mortality and of insulin or sulphonylureas on aggregate micro- or macrovascular outcomes in overweight patients were stated in one case each (1.5%). The lack of effect of tight blood glucose control on quality of life was not stated in any website. POEMs were more frequently present in websites rated high with the DISCERN instrument, websites with the Health-on-the-Net seal and non-commercial websites. Conclusions The dissemination of POEMs through the Internet is poor. If patients are to be involved in decision-making processes, efforts should be made to update the Internet contents to meet this challenge.