ArticleEuropean addiction research2021
Compulsive Health-Related Internet Use and Cyberchondria.
Article in European addiction research, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed.
- Beyond Usage Time: Rethinking Therapeutic Dose and Effect in Digital Therapeutics.JMIR mental health · 2026Article
- Trends in the Implementation of the Cyberchondria Severity Scale: Bibliometric Analysis.JMIR mental health · 2026Article
- Cyberchondria and complexity: a systems-level exploration of anxiety and informational instability in the digital age.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Review
- Prevalence and Associated Factors of Cyberchondria: A Scoping Review.TheScientificWorldJournal · 2026Article
- Analysis of relationship between cyberchondria levels and oral health in dental patients.BMC oral health · 2025Article
- The mechanism of digital feedback on health information anxiety among older adults: information processing self-efficacy as a mediating variable.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- The Relationship between Cyberchondria and Health Anxiety and the Moderating Role of Health Literacy among the Pakistani Public.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Cyberchondria and smartphone addiction: A correlation survey among undergraduate medical students in Egypt.The Journal of the Egyptian Public Health Association · 2024Article
- The digital health dilemma: Exploring cyberchondria, well-being, and smartphone addiction in medical and non-medical undergraduates.Indian journal of psychiatry · 2024Article
- Factors Associated with Korean American Women's Health-Related Internet Use: Findings from Andersen's Behavioral Model.Journal of immigrant and minority health · 2024Article
- The relationship between e-Health literacy and cyberchondria in Iranian students of health sciences.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Article
- Predictors of Cyberchondria During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Cross-sectional Study Using Supervised Machine Learning.JMIR formative research · 2023Article
- Chronic Diseases and Sociodemographic Characteristics Associated With Online Health Information Seeking and Using Social Networking Sites: Nationally Representative Cross-sectional Survey in Japan.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Article
- Cyberchondria: a Growing Concern During the COVID-19 Pandemic and a Possible Addictive Disorder?Current addiction reports · 2023Review
- Cyberchondria and COVID-19 anxiety and internet addiction among nursing students.Current psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.) · 2023Article
- Cyberchondria, Anxiety Sensitivity, Hypochondria, and Internet Addiction: Implications for Mental Health Professionals.Current psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.) · 2022Article
- Evaluation of the Psychometric Properties of the Arab Compulsive Internet Use Scale (CIUS) by Item Response Theory Modeling (IRT).International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Article
- Compulsive Internet Use Scale: Psychometric Properties and Associations With Sleeping Patterns, Mental Health, and Well-Being in Lithuanian Medical Students During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundCyberchondria denotes excessive and repeated online health-related searches associated with an increase in health anxiety. Such searches persist in those with cyberchondria, despite the negative consequences, resembling a pattern of compulsive Internet use.
objectivesThe aim of the present study was to assess compulsive health-related Internet use in relation to cyberchondria while controlling for related variables.
methodAdult participants (N = 749) were recruited from an online platform. They completed questionnaires assessing the severity of cyberchondria (via the Cyberchondria Severity Scale [CSS]), compulsive Internet use adapted for online health-related seeking (via the adapted Compulsive Internet Use Scale [CIUS]), and levels of intolerance of uncertainty and anxiety, as well as depressive, somatic, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms. A logistic regression analysis was carried out to identify predictors of scores above a cutoff value on the CIUS, indicating compulsive health-related Internet use.
resultsThe regression output showed that only the CSS total score and sex made a unique, statistically significant contribution to the model, leading to the correct classification of 78.6% of the cases. Of the CSS subscales, compulsion and distress were the most strongly associated with compulsive health-related Internet use.
conclusionsThe finding that the adapted CIUS scores are associated with cyberchondria indicates that cyberchondria has a compulsive component, at least in terms of health-related Internet use. It also suggests that compulsive health-related Internet use persists despite the distress associated with this activity. Males may engage in cyberchondria more compulsively than females. These findings have implications for research and clinical practice.
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