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Hum. Reprod. Advance Access published online on March 27, 2008
Human Reproduction, doi:10.1093/humrep/den072
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Infertility information on the World Wide Web: a cross-sectional survey of quality of infertility information on the internet in the UK

Jennifer V. Marriott, Piotr Stec, Tarek El-Toukhy, Yakoub Khalaf, Peter Braude and Arri Coomarasamy1

Assisted Conception Unit, Guy's and St. Thomas' Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Thomas Guy House, Guys Hospital, 4th Floor, London SE1 9RT, UK

1 Correspondence address. Tel: +44-207-188-0496; Fax: +44-207-188-0490; E-mail: arricoomar{at}blueyonder.co.uk, arri.coomarasamy{at}gstt.nhs.uk

BACKGROUND: The internet is a frequently used source of information for infertile couples. Previous studies suggested that the quality of health information on the internet is poor. The aim of this study was to assess the quality of websites providing information on infertility and its management in the UK. Differences between website types and affiliations were assessed.

METHODS: A Google search for the keyword ‘infertility’ was performed and 107 relevant websites were identified and categorized by type. Websites were assessed for credibility, accuracy and ease of navigation using predefined criteria.

RESULTS: The total scores for all types of websites were low, particularly in the accuracy category. Websites affiliated to the UK National Health Service (NHS) scored higher than those affiliated to private fertility clinics and other clinics providing non-conventional fertility treatment. Specifically, NHS websites were more likely to report success rates (92.9% versus 60% and 0%, P ≤ 0.05) and display information about their sources of funding (85.7% versus 15% and 14.8%, P ≤ 0.0001).

CONCLUSIONS: Internet resources available to infertile patients are variable. Differences in the quality of infertility information exist between the different types of websites.

Key words: infertility/internet information quality/NHS/ART clinics/private clinics

Submitted on November 27, 2007; resubmitted on January 23, 2008; accepted on February 4, 2008.


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