Evaluation of Web-Based Information on Spine Tuberculosis

Nilesh Barwar; Amit Sharma; Prem Prakash Sharma; Abhay Elhence

doi:10.7759/cureus.28321

Evaluation of Web-Based Information on Spine Tuberculosis

Cureus. 2022 Aug 23;14(8):e28321. doi: 10.7759/cureus.28321. eCollection 2022 Aug.

Authors

Nilesh Barwar¹, Amit Sharma², Prem Prakash Sharma³, Abhay Elhence²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Orthopaedics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bathinda, Bathinda, IND.
² Department of Orthopaedics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Jodhpur, Jodhpur, IND.
³ Department of Community Medicine and Family Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Jodhpur, Jodhpur, IND.

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate and assess the information about spine tuberculosis available on the internet to the general public for its quality, adequacy, and authenticity.

Introduction: Tuberculosis is a bacteriological disease that has been associated with humankind since early human civilization. Spinal tuberculosis is an affection of the spine by the tubercle bacilli and can cause major complications, such as neurological dysfunction and spine deformities. Since the revolution in information technology, information about the disease is widely available on the internet.

Material and methods: A total of 68 websites were selected on Google, Yahoo, and MSN search engines for the information available about the disease. Scientific journals, books, and any other research materials were excluded from this study. The information was documented and evaluated for its validity, sufficiency, and authorship.

Results: The public education websites (PEdWebs: Those websites which did not have direct involvement in patient care) were the major source of the information with 58.82% (40) of it coming from them. In all, there were 69% (47) physicians and 30.9% (21) non-physicians. Among the physicians, 89.4% reviewed the information through commercial websites. "Inadequate" information about spine tuberculosis was provided by 11.8% (8), "Moderate information" by 51.5% (35), and "Sufficient information" by 36.8 % (25) of the websites. Among the websites, 13.2% (9) did not mention any specific presentation of the disease. Sufficient information on that aspect was provided by only 45.58% (31) of the websites. Only 39% emphasized the importance of early diagnosis and subsequent disease management. The majority, i.e., 79.4% (54), did not mention the preventive measures.

Conclusion: The internet has a lot of information regarding spine tuberculosis. The majority of this information comes from physicians. However, not every website has complete and essential information regarding the disease.

Keywords: bone tuberculosis; pott’s paraplegia; pott’s spine; spine tuberculosis; tb spine.