Quality Evaluation of Consumer Health Information Websites Found on Google Using DISCERN, CRAAP, and HONcode

Abstract

Online health misinformation is a growing problem, and health information professionals and consumers would benefit from an evaluation of health websites for reliability and trustworthiness. Terms from the Google COVID-19 Search Trends dataset were searched on Google to determine the most frequently appearing consumer health information websites. The quality of the resulting top five websites was evaluated. The top five websites that appeared most frequently were WebMD, Mayo Clinic, Healthline, MedlinePlus, and Medical News Today, respectively. All websites, except Medline Plus, received HONcode certification. Based on DISCERN and CRAAP scores, MedlinePlus was found to be the most reliable health website.