Wikipedia omits important drug information

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Wikipedia often omits important drug information: study (Reuters)

* Posted on Tue Nov 25, 2008 9:31AM EST

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Consumers who rely on the user-edited Web

resource Wikipedia for information on medications are putting

themselves at risk of potentially harmful drug interactions and

adverse effects, new research shows.

Dr. A. Clauson of Nova Southeastern University in Palm Beach

Gardens, Florida and his colleagues found few factual errors in their

evaluation of Wikipedia entries on 80 drugs. But these entries were

often missing important information, for example the fact that the

anti-inflammatory drug Arthrotec (diclofenac and misoprostol) can

cause pregnant women to miscarry, or that St. 's wort can

interfere with the action of the HIV drug Prezista (darunavir).

" If people went and used this as a sole or authoritative source

without contacting a health professional...those are the types of

negative impacts that can occur, " Clauson told Reuters Health.

Wikipedia is an online, free encyclopedia covering millions of topics

in more than 250 languages. Users add and edit content themselves.

Clauson and his colleagues decided to investigate the accuracy and

completeness of drug information on Wikipedia given that one third of

people doing health-related Internet searches are looking for

information on over-the-counter or prescription drugs, and that a

Wikipedia entry is often the first to pop up with a Google search.

The researchers compared Wikipedia to Medscape Drug Reference (MDR), a

peer-reviewed, free site, by looking for answers to 80 different

questions covering eight categories of drug information, for example

adverse drug events, dosages, and mechanism of action.

While MDR provided answers to 82.5 percent of the questions, Wikipedia

could only answer 40 percent. Answers were less likely to be complete

for Wikipedia, as well. Of the answers the researchers found on

Wikipedia, none were factually inaccurate, while there were four

inaccurate answers in MDR. But the researchers spotted 48 errors of

omission in the Wikipedia entries, compared to 14 for MDR.

" I think that these errors of omission can be just as dangerous " as

inaccuracies, Clauson told Reuters Health. He pointed out that drug

company representatives have been caught deleting information from

Wikipedia entries that make their drugs look unsafe.

The researchers did find that after 90 days, the Wikipedia entries

showed a " marked improvement " in scope.

Wikipedia can be a good jumping-off point for Internet research,

Clauson said, but shouldn't be seen as the last word on any topic-and

should certainly not be used as a resource by medical professionals.

" You still probably want to go to medlineplus.gov or medscape.com for

good quality information that you can feel confident in, " he said.

SOURCE: The ls of Pharmacotherapy, December 2008.

http://tech./news/nm/20081125/wr_nm/us_wikipedia_information_2