title: Trends in internet search activity, media coverage, and patient-centered health information after the FDA safety communications on surgical mesh for pelvic organ prolapse.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In July 2011, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a safety communication regarding serious complications associated with surgical mesh for pelvic organ prolapse, prompting increased media and public attention. This study sought to analyze internet search activity and news article volume after this FDA warning and to evaluate the quality of websites providing patient-centered information.
  
  
  METHODS
  Google Trends™ was utilized to evaluate search engine trends for the term "pelvic organ prolapse" and associated terms between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2014. Google News™ was utilized to quantify the number of news articles annually under the term "pelvic organ prolapse." The search results for the term "pelvic organ prolapse" were assessed for quality using the Health On the Net Foundation (HON) certification.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was a significant increase in search activity from 37.42 in 2010 to 57.75 in 2011, at the time of the FDA communication (p = 0.021). No other annual interval had a statistically significant increase in search activity. The single highest monthly search activity, given the value of 100, was August 2011, immediately following the July 2011 notification, with the next highest value being 98 in July 2011. Linear regression analysis of news articles per year since the FDA communication revealed r2= 0.88, with a coefficient of 186. Quality assessment demonstrated that 42 % of websites were HON-certified, with .gov sites providing the highest quality information.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although the 2011 FDA safety communication on surgical mesh was associated with increased public and media attention, the quality of relevant health information on the internet remains of poor quality. Future quality assurance measures may be critical in enabling patients to play active roles in their own healthcare.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York Presbyterian Hospital, 425 E 61st Street, 12th floor, New York, NY, 10065, USA.
authors.forename: Benjamin V
authors.initials: BV
authors.lastname: Stone
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York Presbyterian Hospital, 425 E 61st Street, 12th floor, New York, NY, 10065, USA.
authors.forename: James C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Forde
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York Presbyterian Hospital, 425 E 61st Street, 12th floor, New York, NY, 10065, USA.
authors.forename: Valerie B
authors.initials: VB
authors.lastname: Levit
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York Presbyterian Hospital, 425 E 61st Street, 12th floor, New York, NY, 10065, USA.
authors.forename: Richard K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York Presbyterian Hospital, 425 E 61st Street, 12th floor, New York, NY, 10065, USA.
authors.forename: Alexis E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Te
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York Presbyterian Hospital, 425 E 61st Street, 12th floor, New York, NY, 10065, USA. bic9008@med.cornell.edu.
authors.forename: Bilal
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Chughtai
mesh_terms: D054626:Consumer Health Information / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D057226:Information Seeking Behavior; D020407:Internet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016014:Linear Models; D056887:Pelvic Organ Prolapse / Q000601:surgery*; D057386:Search Engine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013526:Surgical Mesh / Q000009:adverse effects*; D014481:United States; D014486:United States Food and Drug Administration
keywords: Internet search activity; Patient education; Pelvic organ prolapse; Public health medicine; Surgical mesh