ArticleBMC medical informatics and decision making2026
Online information for patients on cancer diets - a comparison of German- and English-language websites.
Article in BMC medical informatics and decision making, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe internet has become an important source of information for cancer patients. Numerous websites provide nutritional advice that promises benefits for the outcome of cancer therapy. The aim of our study was to evaluate and compare the online information about cancer diets on German- and English-language websites.
methodsA patient's online search was simulated using the search engines Google and Bing. Websites were evaluated by means of content and formal criteria according to a standardized instrument.
resultsThe analysis of 31 websites revealed heterogeneous quality regarding content and formality, distributed evenly among the German- and English-language websites. The quality of content and formality does not correlate with the website's order of appearance in a browser-based search.
conclusionsThe high discrepancy in quality of content and formality represents a risk for cancer patients, who are searching for information online. Content of poor quality and formality increases the risk of mal-information and consecutive false decisions on diet. It results in the decline of therapy response, an increased probability of therapeutic toxicity and a poorer prognosis in general. The visibility of high-quality websites needs to be improved.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.