--- title: Wikipedia Gets 9 Out of 10 Health Ailments Wrong description: Researchers found errors and inaccurate assertions in 9 out of 10 Wikipedia entries on the costliest medical conditions canonical: https://time.com/118904/study-dont-trust-wikipedia-when-it-comes-to-your-health/ author: Dan Kedmey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-27T15:43:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T08:03:22.186Z article:section: Health og:title: Wikipedia Gets 9 Out of 10 Health Ailments Wrong og:description: Researchers found errors and inaccurate assertions in 9 out of 10 Wikipedia entries on the costliest medical conditions og:url: https://time.com/118904/study-dont-trust-wikipedia-when-it-comes-to-your-health/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Wikipedia Gets 9 Out of 10 Health Ailments Wrong twitter:description: Researchers found errors and inaccurate assertions in 9 out of 10 Wikipedia entries on the costliest medical conditions twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Don't Trust Wikipedia When It Comes to Your Health, Study Says > Sponsored content. 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Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators.  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey May 27, 2014 3:43 PM UTC  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey May 27, 2014 3:43 PM UTC A [new study](http://www.jaoa.org/content/114/5/368.full#ref-1) has found that Wikipedia entries on the costliest medical conditions contradicted the latest medical research 90% of the time. A team of U.S. scientists said they found “many errors” in Wikipedia articles concerning the 10 costliest medical conditions. The researchers cross-checked Wikipedia entries on coronary disease, lung cancer, hypertension and back pain, among other ailments, against the latest research from peer-reviewed journals. Nine out of 10 entries analyzed on the crowd-sourced encyclopedia contained assertions that were contradicted by the peer-reviewed sources. Only the entry on concussions escaped the review error free. The authors noted that the article appeared to have contributors with a greater degree of expertise, mimicking the peer-reviewed process. “Health care professionals, trainees, and patients should use caution when using Wikipedia to answer questions regarding patient care,” [wrote](http://www.jaoa.org/content/114/5/368.full#ref-1) the study’s authors in the _Journal of the American Osteopathic Association_. The authors laid particular stress on medical professionals; a [recent study](http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/03/doctors-1-source-for-healthcare-information-wikipedia/284206/) found that 50 percent of physicians admitted using Wikipedia as a reference source. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/118904/study-dont-trust-wikipedia-when-it-comes-to-your-health/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/118904/study-dont-trust-wikipedia-when-it-comes-to-your-health/"},"headline":"Don't Trust Wikipedia When It Comes to Your Health, Study Says","datePublished":"2014-05-27T15:43:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:03:22.186Z","description":"Researchers found errors and inaccurate assertions in 9 out of 10 Wikipedia entries on the costliest medical conditions","url":"https://time.com/118904/study-dont-trust-wikipedia-when-it-comes-to-your-health/","keywords":["Research","medicine","health","Wikipedia"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dan Kedmey","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/research/","name":"Research"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/118904/study-dont-trust-wikipedia-when-it-comes-to-your-health/","name":"Don't Trust Wikipedia When It Comes to Your Health, Study Says"}}]}] ```