RESEARCH - Scope, completeness, and accuracy of drug information in Wikipedia

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Scope, Completeness, and Accuracy of Drug Information in Wikipedia

Medscape

From The ls of Pharmacotherapy

Posted 12/29/2008

A Clauson, PharmD; Hyla H Polen, PharmD; Maged N Kamel Boulos,

PhD; Joan H Dzenowagis, PhD

Abstract

Background: With the advent of Web 2.0 technologies, user-edited

online resources such as Wikipedia are increasingly tapped for

information. However, there is little research on the quality of

health information found in Wikipedia.

Objective: To compare the scope, completeness, and accuracy of drug

information in Wikipedia with that of a free, online, traditionally

edited database (Medscape Drug Reference [MDR]).

Methods: Wikipedia and MDR were assessed on 8 categories of drug

information. Questions were constructed and answers were verified with

authoritative resources. Wikipedia and MDR were evaluated according to

scope (breadth of coverage) and completeness. Accuracy was tracked by

factual errors and errors of omission. Descriptive statistics were

used to summarize the components. Fisher's exact test was used to

compare scope and paired Student's t-test was used to compare current

results in Wikipedia with entries 90 days prior to the current access.

Results: Wikipedia was able to answer significantly fewer drug

information questions (40.0%) compared with MDR (82.5%; p < 0.001).

Wikipedia performed poorly regarding

information on dosing, with a score of 0% versus the MDR score of

90.0%. Answers found in Wikipedia were 76.0% complete, while MDR

provided answers that were 95.5% complete; overall, Wikipedia answers

were less complete than those in Medscape (p < 0.001). No factual

errors were found in Wikipedia, whereas 4 answers in Medscape

conflicted with the answer key; errors of omission were higher in

Wikipedia (n = 48) than in MDR (n = 14). There was a marked

improvement in Wikipedia over time, as current entries were superior

to those 90 days prior (p = 0.024).

Conclusions: Wikipedia has a more narrow scope, is less complete, and

has more errors of omission than the comparator database. Wikipedia

may be a useful point of engagement for consumers, but is not

authoritative and should only be a supplemental source of drug

information.

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Read the full article here:

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/584450

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