Quality of information on fertility clinic websites accredited by the Latin American Network of Assisted Reproduction

TL;DR

This study found that fertility clinic websites in Latin America provide low-quality health information, with significant variation in quality between countries.

Contribution

The study evaluates the quality of information on fertility clinic websites accredited by REDLARA using the QUEST tool, revealing poor quality and country-specific disparities.

Findings

Most fertility clinic websites in Latin America lack authorship information and provide low-quality health information.

Brazil had the highest average website quality score, while Peru had the lowest.

REDLARA is recommended to implement guidelines for improving website quality.

Abstract

To access to reproductive health information on the Internet helps patients
understand their infertility journey and make decisions about their
treatment. This study aimed to evaluate the quality of fertility clinic
websites accredited by the Latin American Network for Assisted Reproduction
(REDLARA) using the QUality Evaluation Scoring Tool (QUEST).

This observational, cross-sectional, and online study evaluated the clinic
websites registered as accredited centers on the REDLARA website. The QUEST
was used for the quality assessment of the websites. Data were collected
from the available websites of all accredited fertility clinics between
September 2023 and January 2024.

A total of 173 websites from fertility clinics accredited by REDLARA were
evaluated, and 152 (87.8%) clinics had functioning websites. The majority of
analyzed websites were from Brazilian fertility clinics (n=58; 38.1%),
followed by Mexican (n=23; 15.1%) and Argentine (n=21; 13.8%). No indication
of authorship or username was observed on most websites. Some form of
support for the patient-physician relationship was reported by 86.8% of
websites. The mean (standard deviation±SD) of the total score
obtained by all fertility clinics was 12.73±4.7 (range: 1-26). Brazil
had the highest total score (mean±SD=16.03±4.6), whereas Peru
had the lowest (6.42±1.7). Statistical analysis revealed a difference
in the quality of websites among Latin American countries.

The health information disseminated by fertility clinic websites in Latin
America is of poor quality. Therefore, REDLARA should implement rules for
building good-quality websites.

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