308. Chronic hypertension and pregnancy: What is the quality of francophone websites?

Objective To evaluate the quality of francophone- oriented-patients websites about chronic hypertension and pregnancy. Methodology Three instruments were used by 4 assessors to evaluate 12 most browsed websites. The first instrument evaluates the readability for a patient, the pictorial outlook and gives a general evaluation (3 questions, total score range 0–9). The second instrument judges the quality and quantity of information provided by each website, according to a pre-established list of items concerning health habits, medications, maternal and neonatal complications, postpartum evolution and breastfeeding (35 items, total score range 0–105). The third instrument, the Discern instrument, assesses the reliability and the quality of information about pharmacologic treatments (16 questions, total score range 16–80). Agreement between the observers was analysed with the Kendall coefficient of concordance (p  Results Six websites were affiliated with medical journals or associations, 2 with media providers, 2 with web providers, 1 with a health care provider and 1 was commercial. Five websites were considered suitable for non- medical readers and only 3 had a favorable general evaluation. None of the websites obtained a score of at least of 50 (for a maximum score of 105) for their content with the second instrument. According to the Discern instrument, 3 sites provided very good reliability and 2 very good quality of information about medications. Statistical agreement between assessors was obtained for all analyses. Medical websites were more focused on complications and medications, were more reliable but were unsuitable for patients. Conclusion French-speaking people have access to very poor quality websites to gather information about chronic hypertension and pregnancy.