Abstract 1832: Increased internet utilization by younger cancer patients for disease research
Authors: Burdick Stephanie , Kodali Sindhura , Rubio Gustavo , Lin Jules , Chang Andrew , Orringer Mark , Reddy Rishindra M. 
Published: June 2012

Objectives: There is a tremendous amount of effort put into creating and maintaining hospital and health care related websites with patient related disease information. Very few have evaluated patients’ use of these websites, and if patients with cancer use the internet more for research, versus those with non-cancer disease processes. We hoped to evaluate all patients in our surgery clinics to assess for differences in internet use with regards to age and disease process.

Methods: We surveyed 350 patients and family members over a 10 week period in our institution's thoracic surgery clinics. We assessed people for their demographic data, baseline internet availability and use, and for disease specific internet research and local hospital website utilization.

Results: 350 people complete the survey. The mean age of cancer patients was 59 years old, while the mean of those with non-cancer diseases was 51. There was no difference in the internet availability or internet research when comparing patients with cancer, and without cancer. We stratified patients by age, into an over 50 year old group (Group A), and a second 50 years and younger group (Group B). Group B had a significantly higher internet availability versus Group B (95% vs 78%), and had higher weekly internet use, and daily hourly use. 71% of people within Group B used the internet to research their diseases, versus 51% in Group A. When we looked at only cancer patients, and stratified by age, 82% of patients 50 years old or younger researched their cancers, versus only 51% of those over age 50. When we analyzed only those patients in Group B, those with cancer had a significantly higher internet research rate (82%) than those without cancer (67%). Although younger patients with cancer tended to perform more internet research, they felt that the information was not trustful 44% of the time, versus only 23% of the over 50 cancer age group. WebMD ® was the most popular single website cited as a source of information.

Conclusions: Having a diagnosis of cancer did not lead to more internet research overall, but there was significantly more internet research performed by patients 50 years and younger with cancer, than those older cancer patients, or those younger patients without cancer. Interestingly though, this same group tended to be most distrustful of the information that it found on the internet. It does seem that internet research will increase as the younger population ages. Further research should be performed to assess for other sources of disease information, and for reasons why internet information isn't trusted. This will help us improve our website design for greatest patient benefit.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1832. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-1832