Online Advice for Preventing Alzheimer’s Often Problematic

Summary: Researchers warn of low quality online information about Alzheimer’s, especially from websites selling products that claim to ‘cure’ the disease.

Source: UBC.

New UBC research finds that many online resources for preventing Alzheimer’s disease are problematic and could be steering people in the wrong direction.

In a survey of online articles about preventing Alzheimer’s disease, UBC researchers found many websites offered poor advice and one in five promoted products for sale–a clear conflict of interest.

“The quality of online information about preventing Alzheimer’s disease ranges,” said Julie Robillard, assistant professor of neurology at UBC with the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health and the National Core for Neuroethics. “The few websites offering high-quality information can be hard to distinguish from the many low-quality websites offering information that can be potentially harmful.”

Today, 564,000 Canadians are living with dementia but the number is expected to grow to nearly one million in the next 15 years as the population ages. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia but there is a lot of uncertainty about what causes the disease and how to protect yourself from it. Previous research has shown that about 80 per cent of people, and half of older adults, turn to the Internet for health information.

Image shows an alzheimer's brain slice.
Robillard and undergraduate student Tanya Feng examined almost 300 online articles about preventing Alzheimer’s disease. They found websites with high-quality information often provided high-level advice suggesting individuals consider lifestyle modifications like managing their diabetes and exercising regularly. NeuroscienceNews.com image is for illustrative purposes only.

Robillard and undergraduate student Tanya Feng examined almost 300 online articles about preventing Alzheimer’s disease. They found websites with high-quality information often provided high-level advice suggesting individuals consider lifestyle modifications like managing their diabetes and exercising regularly.

The researchers identified a few common red flags for low-quality information, such as websites recommending products for sale alongside the content. They found this type of conflict of interest in one in five websites. Other signs of low-quality information included websites with very specific recommendations and nutritional information.

“Many red flags were not specific to what they were saying, but rather how they were saying it,” said Feng. “For example, using strong language like ‘cure’ or ‘guarantee’, promoting their own products, and relying on anecdotal evidence instead of empirical research is suggestive of poor-quality information in online dementia information.”


How to weed out bad information online and tips on preventing Alzheimer’s disease

The researchers say this type of information can also be costly with people sinking money into products with little or no scientific evidence to show that they are effective. More concerning, however, is that the advice can cause anxiety and may impact the physician-patient relationship. Patients may sometimes feel they cannot trust their physician if they disagree with the recommendations or patients may not inform their physicians that they have changed their daily habits.

The researchers are developing a tool called QUEST, a simple test of six questions that anyone can use to help people recognize high-quality information online.

About this Alzheimer’s disease research article

Funding: This research was funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, the British Columbia Knowledge Development Fund, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute.

Source: Heather Amos – UBC
Image Source: NeuroscienceNews.com image is in the public domain.
Video Source: The video is credited to UBC Public Affairs.
Original Research: Abstract for “Health Advice in a Digital World: Quality and Content of Online Information about the Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease” by Robillard, Julie M. and Feng, Tanya L. in Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. Published online July 29 2016 doi:10.3233/JAD-160650

Cite This NeuroscienceNews.com Article

[cbtabs][cbtab title=”MLA”]UBC. “Online Advice for Preventing Alzheimer’s Often Problematic.” NeuroscienceNews. NeuroscienceNews, 13 September 2016.
<https://neurosciencenews.com/problematic-advice-alzheimers-5035/>.[/cbtab][cbtab title=”APA”]UBC. (2016, September 13). Online Advice for Preventing Alzheimer’s Often Problematic. NeuroscienceNews. Retrieved September 13, 2016 from https://neurosciencenews.com/problematic-advice-alzheimers-5035/[/cbtab][cbtab title=”Chicago”]UBC. “Online Advice for Preventing Alzheimer’s Often Problematic.” https://neurosciencenews.com/problematic-advice-alzheimers-5035/ (accessed September 13, 2016).[/cbtab][/cbtabs]

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Abstract

Health Advice in a Digital World: Quality and Content of Online Information about the Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease

Background: As the number of older adults turning to the Internet for health information increases, so does the potential for online information to have a substantial impact on the patient-physician relationship and on their health. Inaccurate information may weaken patient-physician relationships or result in increased physician visits and health-anxiety, while high quality information may allow Internet users to make better decisions about their health.

Objective: To assess the quality and content of available online resources about the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Methods: A sample of 308 articles related to the prevention of AD was collected from the first three pages of location-independent keyword searches on Google.com between September 17–30, 2014. Content analysis was applied to articles that met criteria (n = 298) and a quality evaluation tool was developed to generate a quality score for each of the articles (n = 290).

Results:
We found that articles on the high end of the quality spectrum focused on modifiable risk factors and tended to present balanced information, while articles of low quality emphasized nutrition as a method of prevention and were more likely to be in conflict of interest.

Conclusion: This study provides the first insight into the content and quality of prevention information for AD currently available online and highlights the importance of future research to better understand the impact of this information on the patient-physician relationship and health decision-making of older adults.

“Health Advice in a Digital World: Quality and Content of Online Information about the Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease” by Robillard, Julie M. and Feng, Tanya L. in Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. Published online July 29 2016 doi:10.3233/JAD-160650

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