Many of us will admit to consulting ‘Dr Internet' when we are feeling ill, however people who use the online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, to check their symptoms should ‘proceed with caution', US researchers have warned.

They compared articles from the website on 10 of the ‘most costly conditions', including asthma, heart disease and osteoarthritis, to articles that appeared in peer reviewed medical journals.

They found that among the 10 articles, nine contained ‘statistically significant discordance'. In other words, almost all of the articles on Wikipedia contained inaccuracies.

Wikipedia can be edited by anybody and many healthcare professionals and medical students use the site.

"Although the effect of Wikipedia's information on medical decision making is unclear, it almost certainly has an influence," commented lead researcher, Dr Robert Hasty, who specialises in osteopathic medicine.

The researchers believe their findings show that the ‘facts' displayed on Wikipedia do not match those published in medical journals.

"These results cast serious doubt on Wikipedia's authority as a medical reference repository," they added.

Details of these findings are published in The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association.