Copings for Physical Appearance Symptoms of Cancer Treatment: Present Situations and Issues of Information on Internet

Abstract

Background: Many patients get information about medical treatments by internet and its credibility seems to be greater than we expect. Purpose: This study examined the present situations and issues of information regarding copings for physical appearance symptoms of cancer treatment on internet. Method: The search engines of "Google" and "Yahoo! Japan" were used, and the top 20 pages of search results were examined. Search words were "a type of cancer OR a treatment," "a physical appearance symptom OR a body part," and "copings OR a glooming" that resulted in 26 combinations. After classifying contents, nine doctors, eight nurses, and four pharmacists at a special hospital for cancer (mean age: 35.9) evaluated the appropriateness of each content (1: very harmful, 5: EBM and appropriate). Results: The total number of websites about copings for physical appearance symptoms listed within the top 20 of all websites (the sum: 13,181,150) was 640, out of which 263 websites that were left after removing the duplicated websites were examined. Regardless of the source hosts of websites, there were the most numbers of copings for loss of hair. Unlike the public institutions' websites, the personal blogs mentioned many copings for loss of eyebrows and eyelashes. For edemas, inconsistent copings were introduced by different websites causing appropriate copings for edemas to be unclear. By excluding simple copings like covering affected parts, the total number of each coping was 35 for loss of hair, 29 for edemas, 36 for changes in skin, 14 for changes in nails, 6 for mastectomy, 10 for operation scars, and 1 for the other. Only 59.5% of these copings scored the appropriateness ratings higher than 3.0 (appropriate depend on the time and situations). Conclusions: There are many contradicting and even harmful information on internet. It is expected for health care providers to generate safe and scientifically evidenced information.