Evaluation of Atopy Dermatitis Information on the Internet in Korea

The internet is closely related to the lives of modern people in the 21st Century. Exchanging information with others over the internet in any place through is possible nowadays and such exchanging information has been developed at rapid speed also in the areas of medical care. The internet is an important and rapidly-evolving source of health-related information, and many patients with atopy dermatitis attempt to find information from the internet. This study was performed to investigate the current information available in atopy dermatitis on the internet in Korea. We chose three portal sites and two network communities to analyze the information in which the topic of 'atopy' could be found. Among the 2,024 web sites and 5,613 network communities, 98.2% of the web sites and 71.7% of the communities were related products or service advertisements, and some of them provided incorrect of exaggerated information. There were only 42 web sites and 75 available communities with genuine information, and most of these also presented unattested treatment methods, including alternative therapies. It is quite understandable that patients with atopy dermatitis want to seek information related to their disease and the internet has the potential to be a useful source of information. However, there are no regulations to control the accuracy and quality of information on the internet. We should take an active role in identifying the accuracy and evaluating the quality.