Information needs and Internet use in urological and breast cancer patients.

AIMS: This study aims to describe the information needs of urological and breast cancer patients and factors related to use of the Internet as a source of health information. METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out, using individual questionnaire-based interviews held during the oncology appointments of 169 patients with urological cancer and 100 with breast cancer at the Virgen de las Nieves University Hospital in Granada, Spain. The variables studied were use of the Internet as a source of health information, health status, patient's role in the decision-making process, information sources, satisfaction with the health-care system, type of information received, and Internet use. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was carried out. RESULTS: Breast cancer patients are more concerned with long-term results and the effects on their family and personal life. They are also interested in the experiences of other patients and support groups or staff who could help them to cope with their illness. The information needs of patients with urological cancer are linked to short-term alternative treatments, their sex life, keeping healthy, and exercise. More clinical aspects, such as tests and experiments linked to their treatment, are not a frequent information need. The factors linked to use of the Internet as a source of health information are younger age, high level of education, the patient's active role in the decision-making process, and undergoing more aggressive treatment. There is no link between using the Internet as a source of health information and level of satisfaction with the health-care system, or with Internet use in general. CONCLUSION: Patients need additional information about their illness on top of that given to them by health-care staff, and they often use the Internet to find it. The greatest information need is related to the effects of their illness on their day-to-day life. Health-care staff should provide patients with advice about reliable websites and how to search the Internet.

Adapting the content of cancer web sites to the information needs of patients: reliability and readability.

BACKGROUND: People who use the Internet to research health topics do not usually find all the information they need and do not trust what they read. This study was designed to assess the reliability, accessibility, readability, and popularity of cancer Web sites in Spanish and to analyze the suitability of Web site content in accordance with the specific information needs of cancer patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a two-phase, cross-sectional, descriptive study. The first phase involved data gathering through online searches and direct observation. The second phase involved individual structured interviews with 169 patients with breast, prostate, bladder, and kidney cancer. Spearman rank correlations were calculated between variables. RESULTS: Most sites belonged to nonprofit organizations, followed by universities or medical centers (14%). Thirty-one percent of the Web sites had quality seals, 59% provided details of authorship, 62% provided references to bibliographic sources, 38% identified their funding sources, and 54% showed the date of their last update. Twenty-one percent of the Web sites did not meet the minimum accessibility criteria. With regard to readability, 24% of the texts were considered to be "quite difficult." Patients' information needs vary depending on the type of cancer they have, although all patients want to know about the likelihood of a cure, survival rates, the side effects, and risks of treatment. CONCLUSIONS: The health information on cancer available on the Internet in Spanish is not very reliable, accessible, or readable and is not necessarily the information that breast, kidney, prostate, and bladder cancer patients require. The content of cancer Web sites needs to be assessed according to the information needs of patients.

[Study of death with secondary diagnosis of malnutrition in a third level hospital]. / Estudio de los exitus con diagnóstico secundario de desnutrición en un hospital de tercer nivel.

BACKGROUND: Malnutrition is a major public health problems, according to WHO, is the leading cause of death, when it affects the group of hospitalized patients, making denominating separate entity "hospital malnutrition". OBJECTIVES: The overall objective is to quantify the main diagnoses frequently high, causing exitus, with secondary diagnosis of malnutrition. METHODS: This is a descriptive study, which included all hospital discharges in 2011 and first half of 2012, which have been exitus and whose secondary diagnosis of malnutrition, with the total of 33. We performed a descriptive analysis, effected the Mann-Whitney nonparametric test (p < 0.05). RESULTS: The most frequent main diagnoses among 33 analyzed are high sepsis (12.1%), liver metastases (9.1%), pneumonia (6.1%), acute respiratory failure (6.1%) and renal acute renal (6.1%). CONCLUSIONS: Although the most frequent primary diagnosis of sepsis, by grouping the diagnoses, the most frequent DRG is respiratory disease, so it has to make comprehensive and quality coding to adjust the relative weight of the same reality. It is essential to specify the source of clinical information used for coding, the degree of malnutrition, for greater specificity in the data.

Introducción: La desnutrición constituye uno de los principales problemas de Salud Pública, según datos de la OMS, es la primera causa de mortalidad, cuando la misma afecta al colectivo de los sujetos hospitalizados, toma entidad propia denominándose "desnutrición hospitalaria". Objetivos: El objetivo general es cuantificar los diagnósticos principales de alta más frecuentes, que causan exitus, con el diagnóstico secundario de desnutrición. Métodos: Se trata de un estudio transversal y descriptivo, en el que se han incluido todas las altas hospitalarias del año 2011 y primer semestre de 2012, que han sido exitus y que tienen como diagnóstico secundario la desnutrición, siendo el total de 33. Se ha realizado un análisis estadístico descriptivo, efectuándose el test de Mann-Whitney para pruebas no paramétricas (p < 0,05). Resultados: Los diagnósticos principales más frecuentes entre las 33 altas analizadas son la sepsis (12,1%), metástasis hepáticas (9,1%), neumonía (6,1%), insuficiencia respiratoria aguda (6,1%) e insuficiencia renal aguda (6,1%). Conclusiones: Aunque el diagnóstico principal más frecuente es la sepsis, al agrupar los diagnósticos, el GRD más frecuente es de patología respiratoria, por lo que se ha de hacer codificación exhaustiva y de calidad para ajustar el peso relativo de los mismos a la realidad. Es fundamental especificar en la fuente de información clínica utilizada para la codificación, el grado de desnutrición, para obtener mayor especificidad en los datos.

Factors related to use of the Internet as a source of health information by urological cancer patients.

AIMS: The aims of this study were to describe the profile of urological cancer patients who look for health information on the Internet and to analyse the factors related to use of the Internet as a source of health information. METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional descriptive study using individual, semi-structured, questionnaire-based interviews was carried out in oncology clinics in a hospital in Granada (Spain) in a sample group of 169 patients with prostate, bladder and kidney cancer. The dependent variable was use of the Internet as a source of health information. The independent variables were sociodemographic variables, health status, relationship with healthcare services, patient's role in decision-making process, satisfaction with healthcare, Internet use, Internet skills and attitude. Data analyses include descriptive, bivariate and multivariate analyses. RESULTS: Of the patients in the sample group, 72.2 % had prostate cancer, 19.4 % had bladder cancer and 8.3 % had kidney cancer. Only 11.2 % of patients in the group used the Internet as a source of health information. These patients were typically men of an average age of 62 years, who live in urban areas, who have completed secondary or university education, with a high income and who usually share the role of decision maker with their doctor. Patients who use the Internet as a source of health information usually look for support from psychological support groups, have family members who also look for information on the Internet and prefer sources of information other than those provided by the health services. CONCLUSIONS: The study outlines the profile of urological cancer patients who use the Internet as a source of health information. Internet use is related to a patient's attitude towards decision making, level of education and whether or not they look for information from sources other than the health system itself.