ArticleJournal of medical Internet research2020
Prevalence and Outcomes of Web-Based Health Information Seeking for Acute Symptoms: Cross-Sectional Study.
Article in Journal of medical Internet research, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- Performance of GPT-4o and Claude in Medical Ethics Scenarios: Comparative Study.JMIR medical education · 2026Article
- Cyberchondria and Anxiety Sensitivity in Patients with Panic Disorder: A Case-Control Study.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2026Article
- Cyberchondria, somatic symptoms, and internet-based self-diagnosis among the Saudi population.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Temporal Association Between ChatGPT-Generated Diarrhea Synonyms in Internet Search Queries and Emergency Department Visits for Diarrhea-Related Symptoms in South Korea: Exploratory Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Is Information About Musculoskeletal Malignancies From Large Language Models or Web Resources at a Suitable Reading Level for Patients?Clinical orthopaedics and related research · 2025Article
- Popular large language model chatbots' accuracy, comprehensiveness, and self-awareness in answering ocular symptom queries.iScience · 2023Article
- Web-Based Health Information-Seeking Methods and Time Since Provider Engagement: Cross-sectional Study.JMIR formative research · 2022Article
- Accuracy of Online Pictorial Resources for Common Hand Surgery Procedures.Hand (New York, N.Y.) · 2022Article
- Evaluating Local Multilingual Health Care Information Environments on the Internet: A Pilot Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Quality and reliability of chest Pain-Related short-form health videos on social media: A cross-sectional content analysis.Digital healthArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe literature indicates that Web-based health information seeking is mostly used for seeking information on well-established diseases. However, only a few studies report health information seeking in the absence of a doctor's visit and in the context of acute symptoms.
objectiveThis survey aimed to estimate the prevalence of Web-based health information seeking for acute symptoms and the impact of such information on symptom management and health service utilization.
methodsThis was a cross-sectional study of a convenience sample of 287 Lebanese adults (with a response rate of 18.5% [54/291]) conducted between December 2016 and June 2017. The survey was answered by participants online or through phone-based interviews.
resultsA total of 64.3% of the participants (178/277) reported checking the internet for health information when they had an acute symptom. The rate of those who sought to use Web-based health information first when experiencing acute symptom(s) in the past 12 months was 19.2% (25/130). In addition, 50% (9/18) visited the doctor because of the obtained information, and the rest self-medicated or sought a pharmacist's advice; the majority (18/24, 75%) improved within 3-4 days.
conclusionsHigher education level and trust in Web-based medical information were two major predictors of Web-based health information seeking for acute symptoms. Seeking Web-based health information first for acute symptoms is common and may lead to self-management by avoiding a visit to the physician. Physicians should encourage their patients to discuss Web-based health information and guide them toward trusted online websites.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.