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Most Internet users have searched for information regarding medical illnesses online, even though much online health information is thought to be unreliable, with questionable authority. In this study, the authors used five search engines, querying the term “chest pain,” and evaluated the first 30 websites presented. The authors used well-established tools to grade quality, readability, accessibility, usability, and reliability. Websites were excluded if they were duplicates, paid advertisements, medical dictionaries, videos, news articles, diagnosis-based sites, research articles, or blogs.
Of the 27 websites included, 85% gave recommendations for when to seek emergency care. Only half mentioned potential tests that might be used to diagnos…