Internet use by patients in an inflammatory bowel disease specialty clinic.
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.
Cima
Robert R
RR
Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota, USA. cima.robert@mayo.edu
Anderson
Kari J
KJ
Larson
David W
DW
Dozois
Eric J
EJ
Hassan
Imran
I
Sandborn
William J
WJ
Loftus
Edward V
EV
Pemberton
John H
JH
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006306:Health Surveys; D006782:Hospitals, Special / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D015212:Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / Q000628:therapy*; D033181:Information Dissemination; D020407:Internet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States