Abstract
Background
Vitiligo is a common skin condition worldwide. It is an autoimmune disorder characterized by losing functional melanocytes, leading to chronic patchy depigmentation. People use the internet to seek health information, which is becoming one of the most commonly utilized sources. In this study, we aim to evaluate online information seen by patients about vitiligo by assessing the quality, content, and readability of widely used medical websites.
Methodology
All searches were conducted on February 16, 2022. The most popular search engines, Google, Yahoo, and Bing, were used to find websites, using vitiligo written in Arabic as a search term. An online readability calculator tool was used for the readability assessment of all websites. Two board-certified dermatology consultants (AK and LA) formulated a scoring sheet containing 19 questions based on commonly asked questions by patients in the dermatology clinics; 10 out of the 19 questions were designed to cover general information about vitiligo. In contrast, the other nine questions were designed to accommodate the management aspect of vitiligo. For the accountability assessment of each website, Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) benchmarks were used. Statistical analysis has been performed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25 (IBM SPSS Statistics, Armonk, NY, USA).
Main measures
The following measures were used: a 19-question sheet, JAMA benchmarks, the Coleman-Liau index, and the Automated Readability Index (ARI).
Results
In this study, we analyzed 21 websites. The interobserver reproducibility was 0.946 between AK and LA (P < 0.001). For all websites, the mean (standard deviation (SD)) score of the questionnaire was 11.71 (3.45) (95% confidence interval (CI): 10.14-13.29) out of 19 possible points. Regarding all four JAMA benchmarks, no website achieved all benchmarks. Three of 21 websites (14.29%) completed three out of four JAMA benchmarks. No correlation was found between the content quality of the websites and JAMA benchmarks (r = 0.270, P = 0.237).
Conclusion
Online information about vitiligo in Arabic varies depending on the source, but overall, it is of low quality and written beyond the level of the general population. The “top 10 websites” outlined in our article may be used as a suggested reading list for vitiligo patients.