“Muddling by googling” – Cyberchondria among outpatient attendees of two hospitals in Sri Lanka

Abstract

BackgroundThe internet is widely used as a source of health information, and the negative effects of this practice is well documented. Cyberchondria, the unfounded escalation of concerns about common symptoms based on review of online information has been identified as a major concern. This area has not been studied in Sri Lanka. AimsWe studied the prevalence, nature and effects of cyberchondria among outpatients in Sri Lanka. MethodsData was gathered from 300 outpatients, 150 patients each attending a government and private hospital in Western province using a self-administered questionnaire. ResultsOut of 300 participants 178 were female and the average age was 42 years. Only 24% of the participants used the internet as an information source on health related issues. The prevalence of cyberchondria was 16.3% in our study population. Cyberchondria was significantly more common among outpatients of the private hospital. A majority of patients who made a self-diagnosis using online information had made an incorrect diagnosis. One third of internet users felt anxious after searching about their symptoms and 34% sought further medical advice following internet use. Conclusions The possible negative effects of online health information is a concern in Sri Lanka. Further studies and public education regarding this area in Sri Lanka are required.

The Assessment of Cyberchondria: Instruments for Assessing Problematic Online Health-Related Research

“…Still, it should be noted that the CSS has been translated into Brazilian Portuguese [22] and that Indonesian version of the CSS was used in one study [23]. The CSS was also used in published studies conducted in Pakistan [24,25], India [26,27] and Sri Lanka [28]. The original English version of the CSS was administered in some of these studies [25,27], while other studies did not provide details of translations into local languages [24,26,28].…”

New challenges in facing cyberchondria during the coronavirus disease pandemic

“…Indeed, as many as 23.3% of university students reported a significant CYB (score on the CSS-33 above the 75th percentile) in a survey-based study conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic [30]. Another recent investigation reported CYB in 16.3% of 300 outpatients attending two general hospitals (this study considered the presence of any CSS factors as being indicative of CYB) [34]. Additional investigations are needed to determine the age of onset and the influence of culture or geography on CYB.…”

The Portrait of Cyberchondria—A Cross-Sectional Online Study on Factors Related to Health Anxiety and Cyberchondria in Polish Population during SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic

“…Seven percent of participants scored positive for cyberchondria according to the CSS threshold estimated by the ROC curve analysis. Wijesinghe et al [ 53 ], in turn, focused on outpatients from two general hospitals in Sri Lanka and estimated the prevalence of distinct symptoms of cyberchondria at 16.3%. Akhtar et al [ 54 ] analyzing a group of graduates aged at least 35 years, with no chronic medical condition, found that 24.3% of respondents experienced acute symptoms of cyberchondria, while 50.0% reported moderate symptoms.…”