Background:
Patient education is known to improve satisfaction in and participation with treatment. a careful assessment of internet use by inflammatory bowel disease (ibd) patients to gather information has not been reported. our aim was to evaluate internet use to gather general health- and disease-specific information in patients presenting to an ibd clinic.
Methods:
A cross-sectional anonymous survey using a convenience sample of patients (n = 175) at a tertiary-care institution's ibd clinic was performed.
Results:
In all, 169 surveys (97%) were returned for analysis. the median age was 46 (17-84), 83 men and 81 women (5 missing). in known ibd patients (87%), 85 (50%) had crohn's disease and 62 (37%) ulcerative colitis; 81% of patients had home internet access. the most common information sources were: gastroenterologists (59%), internet (54%), and primary-care physicians (54%). ninety-two patients (54%) used the internet to gather ibd-specific information. age-specific use (<40, 40-65, >65) was 73%, 48%, 37.5%, respectively. there was a significant positive association between level of education and internet use (p < 0.0001), but not with income. internet sites most commonly visited were organization- or institution-specific. factors that most influenced a user's choice of an internet site were noncommercial status (59%) and ease of use (53%). the majority of patients (57%) rated internet information "trustworthy" to "very trustworthy."
Conclusions:
Over half of patients in an ibd clinic used the internet to gather ibd-specific information. use was inversely associated with age and positively correlated with education level. there was no income association. these findings suggest web-based ibd information may become increasingly important in the future.