Reliability of Health Information on the Turkish Web Sites; Fever in Children at Home Kemal H. GULKESEN a,1 , Timur BEYAN b , Husamettin GUL b and Kemal BICAKCI c a Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey b Gülhane Military Medical Academy, Ankara, Turkey c Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey Abstract. Background: The quality of health information on the Internet is extremely variable, limiting its use as a serious information source. The studies on the web have been done mostly on sites in English, the sites in other languages are not well assessed. Objective: To assess the accuracy of health information about fever in children on Turkish web sites. Methods: We used Google and some Turkish search engines to reach Web sites related to fever in children. The accuracy of these Web sites has been evaluated. Results: We determined 41 web sites. Thirty-two (78 %) gave a specific temperature above which a child is considered to have fever. Twenty-seven (66 %) had no explanation on the correct way to take a child’s temperature. Eighteen (44 %) mentioned drug treatment. Non-drug remedies were indicated in 38 (93 %). Twenty eight (68 %) gave at least some indication of when parents should call a doctor. Two (5%) of the websites had satisfactory information about childhood fever. Six (15 %) web sites included incorrect information. Conclusions: The quality of Turkish health information on the Internet is questionable, and some of the websites can misdirect users. Keywords: Internet, child care, fever. 1. Introduction The growing popularity of the Internet has made it easier and faster to find health information [1]. Therefore, the Internet has become an important source of health information and a lot of people use this to reach medical topics. The Internet offers access to health information provided by many different people, organizations and companies. Patients require access to good quality, evidence based information so they can take an active part in decisions about their own health [2]. There is some research interested in the acquisition of health information from the web by laypersons in USA. According to one study [3], 55 % of internet users (52 million Americans) use the Internet to access health and medical information, 41% said the online material influenced their decisions about treatment and care, and 86% said they were very concerned about getting information from an unreliable source. The quality of health information on the Internet is a source of anxiety almost since its first 1 Corresponding Author: Kemal Hakan Gülkesen. Akdeniz Universitesi Tip Fakultesi Biyoistatistik ve Tip Bilisimi AD, 07059 Antalya, Turkey. hgulkesen@akdeniz.edu.tr MIE 2006 © 2006 Organizing Committee of MIE 2006 433