The Mysterious Maze of the World Wide Web: How Can We Guide Consumers to High-Quality Health Information on the Internet?

Consumers are turning to the Internet in growing numbers for answers to their health care questions. As of 2002, 73 million Americans reported that they went to the web for health information (Pew Internet and American Life Project, 2002). At the same time, a number of studies have suggested that much of the health information available on the Internet is, to varying degrees, incomplete, inaccurate, oversimplified, and/or misleading (Craigie, Loader, Burrows, & Muncer, 2002; Culver, Uerr, & Frurnkin, 1997; Hatfield, May, & Markoff, 1999; Impicciatore, Pandolfini, Casella, & Bonati, 1997; Kunst, Groot, Latthe, Latthe, & Khan, 2002; Meric, Bernstam, & Mirza, 2002; Pandolfini & Bonati, 2002; Purcell, Wilson, & Delamothe, 2002; Rice, 2001; Risk, 2002; Thompson, 1999; Wilson, 2002; Zeng, Kogan, Plovnick, Crowell, Lacroix, & Greenes, 2004).