Evidence map›Paper›PMID 11929503›Full record

ArticleJournal of general internal medicine2002

Patients' use of the Internet for medical information.

Joseph A Diaz, Rebecca A Griffith, James J Ng, Steven E Reinert, Peter D Friedmann, Anne W Moulton

Registry-linked trialAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of general internal medicine, 2002. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03449004 (The Online Patient Satisfaction Index), which is not on this map. Cited by 284 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
284citing papers in PubMed, 8 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT03449004 completednot on this mapstarted 2018, after this paper: background citation

The Online Patient Satisfaction Index (OPSI): Development and Validation Among Patients With Low Back Pain

TypeobservationalSponsorAalborg University HospitalRan2018 to 2019Enrolled150ConditionsLow Back PainArmsValidation of the OPSI questionnaire
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

284 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Online Information on Lymphedema: Systematic Review of the Quality of Online Patient Resources.Journal of cancer education : the official journal of the American Association for Cancer Education · 2026
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224 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Joseph A DiazDivision of General Internal Medicine, Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island, Brown University School of Medicine, Pawtucket, RI 02860, USA. Joseph_Diaz@Brown.edu
Rebecca A Griffith
James J Ng
Steven E Reinert
Peter D Friedmann
Anne W Moulton

Funding

FACULTY DEVELOPMENT IN GIM AND/OR GPD28PE051016 · PE · RHODE ISLAND HOSPITAL (PROVIDENCE, RI) · PI MOULTON, ANNE W · 1991 to 1997
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BHP HRSA HHS 5D28PE51016-09
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesTo determine the percentage of patients enrolled in a primary care practice who use the Internet for health information, to describe the types of information sought, to evaluate patients' perceptions of the quality of this information, and to determine if patients who use the Internet for health information discuss this with their doctors.

designSelf-administered mailed survey.

settingPatients from a primary care internal medicine private practice.

participantsRandomly selected patients ( N=1,000) were mailed a confidential survey between December 1999 and March 2000. The response rate was 56.2%. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN

resultsOf the 512 patients who returned the survey, 53.5% (274) stated that they used the Internet for medical information. Those using the Internet for medical information were more educated ( P <.001) and had higher incomes ( P <.001). Respondents used the Internet for information on a broad range of medical topics. Sixty percent felt that the information on the Internet was the "same as" or "better than" information from their doctors. Of those using the Internet for health information, 59% did not discuss this information with their doctor. Neither gender, education level, nor age less than 60 years was associated with patients sharing their Web searches with their physicians. However, patients who discussed this information with their doctors rated the quality of information higher than those who did not share this information with their providers.

conclusionsPrimary care providers should recognize that patients are using the World Wide Web as a source of medical and health information and should be prepared to offer suggestions for Web-based health resources and to assist patients in evaluating the quality of medical information available on the Internet.

Indexed as

Internal MedicinePhysician-Patient RelationsPhysicians, FamilyFemaleHumansInformation ServicesInternetMaleMiddle AgedPatient Education as TopicReproducibility of Results

Identifiers

PMID11929503
PMCPMC1495021

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.