Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.
About Evaluating Health Information
Health information is easy to find. But finding reliable health information takes a little effort. Some of the health information you get from newspapers, magazines, books, TV, the Internet, and social media is up to date and trustworthy. But some is not. That's why it's important to evaluate health information for yourself.
But how can you tell the good from the bad? There are two key steps:
- Ask questions before you trust what you read or hear.
- Discuss the information you find with your health care provider before you rely on it. You may have found good information, but your provider can tell you whether it's good for you.
Asking a few questions will help you decide if you can trust a website. You can usually find most of the answers on the site's "About Us" page. If you can't find information about who runs the website, the site may not be trustworthy, and their health information may be unreliable. Some questions to ask are:
- Who runs the site? Can you trust them to provide balanced, accurate information? Trustworthy sites provide a way to contact the owners with questions or feedback. In general, you'll find good health information on websites run by: Federal government agencies.
- Medical schools.
- Large professional or nonprofit organizations. For example, the American College of Cardiology (a professional organization) and the American Heart Association (a nonprofit) and are both reliable sources of information on heart health.
- Inform the public?
- Sell products or services?
- Promote the opinions of a person or group?
- If the site is funded by ads, they should be clearly marked as advertisements. Watch out for ads designed to look like neutral health information.
- If a business pays for the site, the health information may favor that business and its products.
- How is the information selected and reviewed to make sure it's accurate? Check the "About Us" page to see if the site has: An editorial board of health experts
- A content review process
- A selection policy for content
- Information about their writers' qualifications, which may be listed at the bottom of the articles
When you find a website that seems to be trustworthy, don't stop there. Look to see if other reliable sites have similar health information.
A social media post may come from someone you know, but that doesn't guarantee it's good information. Many of the questions you use to evaluate a website also work for social media too. Ask where the information comes from, why it exists, and if anyone is funding it.
If you're not sure whether the information you see on social media is trustworthy, don"t share it with others.
Some news stories about medical research may not include all the facts you need to know. Ask these questions:
- Does the story say whether the research involved people or animals?
- If it was people, how many people were in the study and who were they?
- How long was the study?
- What type of study was it?
- Who paid for the research?
If you learn a few tips for understanding medical research, you'll be able to decide if a news story may apply to your health. Then you can discuss the information with your provider.
To evaluate health information in books, ask:
- How old is the book?
- Is the author an expert on the subject?
- Does the book offer different points of view or just those of the author?
- Has the book been reviewed by other experts?
- Does the book list the sources of the content?
After you evaluate health information, talk with your provider before using it to make decisions that may affect your health.
It sits within Wellness and Lifestyle and Personal Health Issues.
The lead U.S. institute for this subject is the National Library of Medicine.
When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.
Research on Evaluating Health Information
18 studies areregistered for this condition on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's public registry. A selection is below — the links go straight to the registry entry, not to a summary of ours.
What a registered study does and does not mean. Registration means a study exists and has been declared publicly. It says nothing about whether the treatment being tested works, is safe, or is available to you. Many studies find no benefit — that is what research is for. Never seek out an experimental treatment on the strength of a registry entry alone.
Research currently under way
- Clinical Information System Impact on Hospitalized Patients With Chronic DiseaseUniversity of Calgary
- Evaluating Care Integration Between Pediatric Primary Care Providers and WIC NutritionistsPenn State University
- PROMIS and Mobility Evaluation in Sarcoma PatientsUniversity of Calgary
- Evaluating Dashboard-Integrated Pharmacist-Led Education on Improving Sacubitril/Valsartan Adherence in Heart Failure (PharmD ASSIST HFrEF)National Taiwan University Hospital
- Effectiveness and Implementation of Mobile Health Platform for Medication Management and E-Labeling (eDrugSafe)Seoul National University
Research already completed
- Evaluating the Impact of a Symptom Checker on Healthcare-seeking Decisions: a Mixed-Methods StudyAda Health GmbH
- Evaluating a Digital Health Information ToolNew York University
- Study the Impact of the CommunityRx Program on Health, Self-care and CostUniversity of Chicago
- Evaluating the Effectiveness of an Electronic Medical Transfer Tool to Improve Communication During Transfers From ICUHenry T. Stelfox, MD PhD
- Interactive Mobile Health Information to Enhance Patient Care at a Cystic Fibrosis CenterLandon Pediatric Foundation
- The DNA-Based Lifestyle Enhancement TrialHamilton Health Sciences Corporation
Study data from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-07-30. Registry entries are supplied by study sponsors and investigators; ClinicalTrials.gov does not verify their scientific validity. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH.
Where to read more
Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.
Start Here
- Community Toolkit for Addressing Health MisinformationSurgeon General
- Evaluating Internet Health Information: A Tutorial from the National Library of MedicineNational Library of Medicine
- Know the Science: Finding and Evaluating Online ResourcesNational Center for Complementary and Integrative Health
Related Issues
- Health Literacy: MedlinePlus Health TopicNational Library of Medicine
- How to Spot Health FraudFood and Drug Administration
Medical subject headings
Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Internet. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.
This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Evaluating Health Information, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.