Searching the Internet for health information can turn up reliable and up-to-date information. If you’re not careful, however, the information just as easily could be questionable, misleading, unproven, wrong or even dangerous. The accuracy of health information on the Web is a growing concern among the country’s leading hospitals and physicians as more patients search the Internet for medical advice and health information.

Finding the good with the bad
The Internet can help you find a doctor, learn about medical advances, improve your diet or even show you a newborn grandchild for the first time. Increasingly, people are looking for ways to search the Web quickly and efficiently for information they can use in making better health care decisions.

The openness of the Internet is part of its appeal, but also part of the problem. Just about anyone can set up a Web site. In 1999, researchers from the University of Michigan did the first scientific study of health information on the Net and found it was loaded with basic and sometimes life-threatening errors. About 6 percent of the information was wrong and more was misleading.

Sifting through the pages
The huge numbers of Web pages available on any particular topic can be overwhelming. One search engine recently turned up more than 84,000 Web pages on prostate cancer. Another 20,000 pages were devoted to chickenpox. How do you sort through it all? First, decide what type of information you need. When it comes to medical advice, there are many ways to turn and the type of information you are seeking should guide your approach to a search.