Quality of diabetes related health information on internet: an Indian context.

Diabetes is a growing public health concern in Indian subcontinent. More and more people are searching internet for health information, however, the quality of internet-based medical information is extremely variable. This study aims to evaluate quality of health information about type-II diabetes mellitus in an Indian context. We used key words 'diabetes', 'diabetes management', 'diabetes prevention' and 'diabetes monitoring' and searched over Google, Yahoo and Bing during August 2011. Two independent reviewers used DISCERN tool to assess quality of health information of the final 84 websites. Majority of the websites were '.com' and DISCERN scores were highest in 'other' category. Inter-rater reliability analysis suggests 81% (N = 17) DISCERN criteria are in substantial agreement between two reviewers. There is no significant difference between two reviewers as well as among four website categories (.com, .edu, .org and others) for reliability of publication, specific details about treatment choices and overall quality rating.