Wikipedia unreliable source for health info, study says

At the first signs of illness, many of us don't hesitate to look up our symptoms and corresponding conditions on Wikipedia. But according to a study published in the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, the vast majority of health-related pages on the open online encyclopedia are laden with errors.

Carried out by a group of 18 doctors with various affiliations around US, the study identified the ten most costly conditions in the country, in terms of both public and private spending. The Wikipedia entry on each of these conditions was then scoured line by line and compared to trusted, peer-reviewed sources of medical information.

And the results are discouraging for fans of the online encyclopedia: errors were found in nine of the ten articles. Coronary artery disease, lung cancer, osteoarthritis, hypertension, diabetes, back pain... The only exception to the rule was the article on trauma-related disorders, which was accurate at the time of review, according to the experts, although errors could of course be added at any time.

These conclusions underscore the necessity of double-checking information found on Wikipedia, which allows anyone to add to and modify entries. Alarmingly, the study also revealed that 47% to 70% of doctors and medical students admit to using the online encyclopedia as a reference.