Profile of Ovarian Cancer Patients Seeking Information from a Web-Based Decision Support Program
- 1 April 2006
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Mary Ann Liebert Inc in Journal of Women's Health
- Vol. 15 (3), 312-318
- https://doi.org/10.1089/jwh.2006.15.312
Abstract
Background: There is limited information available regarding the characteristics of patients who elect to gather and share information about their malignancy on the Internet. Methods: Using a proprietary decision support program embedded into a number of established websites, individuals entered personal clinical data into disease site profilers designed to provide information about evidence-based treatment options, based on specific characteristics (e.g., stage of disease, prior therapy) provided by the patients. The aggregate data were evaluated to examine the characteristics of patients with gynecological cancer (with a focus on newly diagnosed and recurrent ovarian cancer) using such a tool. Results: From early 2000 through November 2004, >15,000 patients with gynecological cancer have entered data into one of four profilers: newly diagnosed (n = 5604)/recurrent (n = 2803) ovarian, endometrial, and cervical cancers. Internal data consistency includes similar ages and general health histories of the ovarian and endometrial cancer populations and younger age of the cervical cancer patients. Whereas 90% of the women with ovarian cancer considered themselves to be in "good health," 64% of newly diagnosed vs. only 50% of recurrent disease patients declared their activity level was "normal." Of the recurrent patients, 32% stated they had undergone a secondary surgery. The overall aggressive management philosophy of the recurrent patients in this series is supported by the observation that 33% had received ≥4 prior chemotherapy regimens, 97% desired additional treatment, and 81% were interested in clinical trials. Conclusions: Women with ovarian cancer seeking assistance from web-based decision support programs may represent a subgroup with unique clinical features compared with the general patient population.Keywords
This publication has 12 references indexed in Scilit:
- The Impact of the Internet on Cancer OutcomesCA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, 2003
- Phase III Trial of Carboplatin and Paclitaxel Compared With Cisplatin and Paclitaxel in Patients With Optimally Resected Stage III Ovarian Cancer: A Gynecologic Oncology Group StudyJournal of Clinical Oncology, 2003
- Optimizing primary chemotherapy in ovarian cancerHematology/Oncology Clinics of North America, 2003
- Use of the Internet and E-mail for Health Care InformationPublished by American Medical Association (AMA) ,2003
- American Oncologists’ Views of Internet Use by Cancer Patients: A Mail Survey of American Society of Clinical Oncology MembersJournal of Clinical Oncology, 2003
- Empirical Studies Assessing the Quality of Health Information for Consumers on the World Wide WebJAMA, 2002
- Obesity as a medical problemNature, 2000
- Second-Line Treatment of Ovarian CancerThe Oncologist, 2000
- Endometrial CarcinomaNew England Journal of Medicine, 1996
- Challenges and opportunities of the Internet for medical oncology.Journal of Clinical Oncology, 1996