Most Wikipedia health articles contain errors

(HealthDay)—Ninety percent of health articles on Wikipedia contain errors, according to a new study published in the May issue of the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association.

American researchers compared the online encyclopedia's entries about 10 conditions with peer reviewed medical research and found that most Wikipedia articles contained "many errors," BBC News reported.

The 10 conditions included in the study were the "most costly" in the United States and included asthma, depression, lung cancer, diabetes, heart disease, back problems, and osteoarthritis. The Wikipedia articles used in the analysis were printed off on April 25, 2012.

"While Wikipedia is a convenient tool for conducting research, from a public health standpoint patients should not use it as a primary resource because those articles do not go through the same peer-review process as medical journals," said lead author Robert Hasty, D.O., of the Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine in Buies Creek, N.C., BBC News reported.