Provider*  Total
  HP PI IW p=  
Treatment of choice 11 (73.3) 10 (71.4) 62 (80.5) 0.49 83 (78.3)
Alternative treatment 11 (73.3) 6 (42.9) 39 (50.6) 0.09 56 (52.8)
Side effects and precautions 11 (73.3) 6 (42.8) 42 (54.5) 0.10 59 (55.7)
Medication interactions 11 (73.3) 5 (35.7) 22 (28.6) 0.002 32 (30.2)
Dosage 5 (33.3) 4 (28.6) 22 (28.6) 0.84 30 (28.3)
Recommendations for avoiding medication errors 4 (26.7) 2 (14.3) 10 (13.0) 0.32 18 (17.0)
Indications in case of AE 6 (40.0) 3 (21.4) 12 (15.6) 0.06 20 (18.9)
Storage of medication 5 (33.3) 4 (28.6) 1 (1.3) <0.001 6 (5.7)
Contact in case of AE 1 (6.7) 2 (14.3) 3 (3.9) 0.34 6 (5.7)
System for reporting AE 2 (13.3) 0 (0.0) 2 (2.6) 0.08 4 (3.8)
Total websites analysed 14 15 77   106
Data represent the total number of websites that contain relevant information; in brackets, percentage of the total of sites and portals analyzed.
Statistic applied was chi-squared.
AE=Adverse effects
* HP: Health portals–with participation of healthcare institutions or endorsed/run by patients’ associations; PI: Pharmaceuticals industry websites; IW: Websites housing independent virtual communities or networks for patients.
Table 1: What information about medication can be found according to the type of information provider.