ArticleJournal of hand surgery global online2023
Patient-Directed Online Education for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and Release: Analysis of What Patients Ask and Quality of Resources.
Article in Journal of hand surgery global online, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 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
4 citing papers in PubMed, 6 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comparing Online Patient Searches About Carpal Tunnel Release Approaches: A Study on Modern Search Analytics.Hand (New York, N.Y.) · 2026Article
- Internet Searches Related to Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury and Surgery Predominantly Relate to Management, Technical Details, and Recovery, but Quality of Websites Is Poor.Arthroscopy, sports medicine, and rehabilitation · 2025Article
- Individuals Frequently Search Google With Questions About the Management of Meniscal Tears and the Indications for and Technical Details of Surgery but the Quality of the Information Is Suboptimal.Arthroscopy, sports medicine, and rehabilitation · 2025Article
- Modern Digital Query Analytics of Patient Education Materials on Acanthosis Nigricans: Systematic Search and Content Analysis.JMIR dermatology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Purpose: This study classifies common questions searched by patients from the Google search engine and categorizes the types and quality of online education resources used by patients regarding carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and carpal tunnel release (CTR). Methods: Google's results were extracted and compiled using the "People also ask" function for frequent questions and associated web pages for CTS and CTR. Questions were categorized using Rothwell's classification with further topic subcategorization. Web pages were evaluated by using Journal of the American Medical Association Benchmark Criteria for source quality. Results: Of the 600 questions evaluated, "How do I know if I have carpal tunnel or tendonitis?" and "What causes carpal tunnel to flare up?" were the most commonly investigated questions for CTS. For CTR, frequent questions investigated included "How long after hand surgery can I drive" and "How do you wipe after carpal tunnel surgery." The most common questions for CTS by Rothwell classification were policy (51%), fact (41%), and value (8%) with the highest subcategories being indications/management (46%) and technical details (27%). For CTR, the most common questions entailed fact (54%), policy (34%), and value (11%) with the highest subcategories as technical details (31%) and indications/management (26%). The most common web pages were academic and medical practice. The mean Journal of the American Medical Association score for all 600 web pages was 1.43, with journals (mean = 3.91) having the highest score and legal (mean = 0.52) and single surgeon practice websites (mean = 0.28) having the lowest scores. Conclusions: Patients frequently inquire online about etiology, precipitating factors, diagnostic criteria, and activity restrictions regarding CTS/CTR. Overall, the quality of online resources for this topic was poor, especially from single surgeon practices and legal websites. Clinical relevance: Understanding the type and quality of information patients are accessing assists physicians in tailoring counseling to patient concerns and facilitates informed decision-making regarding CTS/CTR as well as guiding patients to high-quality online searches.
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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.