Wikipedia Gives Inaccurate Info. on Drugs

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Wikipedia often omits important drug data

Study: Entries may not include side effects or risks from mixing medications

updated 11:11 a.m. ET, Tues., Nov. 25, 2008

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,

Fla. 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.

Copyright 2008 Reuters.

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