Use of the medical information on the internet by pregnant patients with a prenatal diagnosis of neonatal disease requiring surgery

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to clarify the current status and the problems associated with using medical information on the internet during pregnancy in patients prenatally diagnosed with fetal abnormalities at a single Japanese institution.

Methods

A written, anonymous questionnaire survey was conducted in 155 pregnant patients who had been prenatally diagnosed as having neonatal surgical diseases between January 2000 and December 2009, and their families.

Results

Forty-three out of the 75 responding families (57.3%) had used medical information available on the internet during their pregnancy. The availability of information, assessed during 2 year-increments, has increased rapidly in the past 4 years. When the explanation of a physician was compared with the information provided by the internet, the knowledge or impression of the disease was different in 60% of cases and similar in 33% of cases. More importantly, 60% of the patients felt that the information obtained from the internet was more pessimistic than the physician’s explanation.

Conclusion

The number of pregnant patients who have used medical information on the internet has rapidly increased in the recent years. Subjects who used this information were more likely to experience a sense of anxiety and feelings regarding the seriousness of the disease.