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Assessing the quality of online health information about breast cancer from Chinese-language websites (Preprint)


 BACKGROUND
 In China, the Internet has become one of the most important ways to obtain information about 
breast cancer. However, quantitative evaluations of the quality of Chinese health websites and the breast cancer treatment information they publish are lacking.
 
 
 OBJECTIVE
 This study aimed to evaluate the quality of Chinese breast cancer websites and the value, suitability and accuracy of the breast cancer treatment information they publish.
 
 
 METHODS
 As the research objects, Chinese breast cancer health websites were searched and manually screened according to their Alexa and BaiduTM search engine rankings. For each site included in the survey, conducted April 8, 2019, three recently published articles that met the inclusion criteria were selected as samples to evaluate the quality of online breast cancer treatment information. Three raters assessed all materials using the LIDA, DISCERN, and SAM instruments and the Michigan Checklist. Data analysis was completed with SPSS 20.0 and Excel 2010.
 
 
 RESULTS
 This survey included 20 Chinese breast cancer websites and 60 articles on breast cancer treatment. The average LIDA score for the sites was 54.85 (SD 3.498). For the online breast cancer treatment articles, regarding value, the scores were generally low. Regarding suitability, 32 (53.33%) articles were evaluated as presenting unsuitable material. Regarding accuracy, the problems were that the articles were not original (44 articles, 73%) and lacked references (46 articles, 77%).
 
 
 CONCLUSIONS
 The quality of Chinese breast cancer websites is generally good. However, the colour collocation, text setting and language design should be improved. The quality of Chinese online breast cancer treatment information is poor; the information has little value to users, and pictorial information is scarcely used. The online breast cancer treatment information is accurate but lacks originality and references.
