Marco Javier, Barba Raquel, Losa Juan E, de la Serna Carlos Martínez, Sainz María, Lantigua Isabel Fernández, de la Serna Jose Luis
Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Madrid, Spain.
PLoS Med. 2006 Jul;3(7):e256. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.0030256.
Advice from a medical expert on concerns and queries expressed anonymously through the Internet by patients and later posted on the Web, offers a new type of patient-doctor relationship. The aim of the current study was to perform a descriptive analysis of questions about AIDS and hepatitis made to an infectious disease expert and sent through the Internet to a consumer-oriented Web site in the Spanish language.
Questions were e-mailed and the questions and answers were posted anonymously in the "expert-advice" section of a Web site focused on AIDS and hepatitis. We performed a descriptive study and a temporal analysis of the questions received in the first 12 months after the launch of the site. A total of 899 questions were received from December 2003 to November 2004, with a marked linear growth pattern. Questions originated in Spain in 68% of cases and 32% came from Latin America (the Caribbean, Central America, and South America). Eighty percent of the senders were male. Most of the questions concerned HIV infection (79%) with many fewer on hepatitis (17%). The highest numbers of questions were submitted just after the weekend (37% of questions were made on Mondays and Tuesdays). Risk factors for contracting HIV infection were the most frequent concern (69%), followed by the window period for detection (12.6%), laboratory results (5.9%), symptoms (4.7%), diagnosis (2.7%), and treatment (2.2%).
Our results confirm a great demand for this type of "ask-the-expert" Internet service, at least for AIDS and hepatitis. Factors such as anonymity, free access, and immediate answers have been key factors in its success.
医学专家针对患者通过互联网匿名表达并随后发布在网上的担忧和疑问提供建议，这开创了一种新型医患关系。本研究旨在对向一位传染病专家提出的、通过互联网发送至一个西班牙语面向消费者的网站的关于艾滋病和肝炎的问题进行描述性分析。
问题通过电子邮件发送，问题及答案在一个专注于艾滋病和肝炎的网站的“专家建议”板块匿名发布。我们对该网站上线后头12个月收到的问题进行了描述性研究和时间分析。2003年12月至2004年11月共收到899个问题，呈现明显的线性增长模式。68%的问题源自西班牙，32%来自拉丁美洲（加勒比地区、中美洲和南美洲）。80%的提问者为男性。大多数问题涉及HIV感染（79%），关于肝炎的问题较少（17%）。周末过后提交的问题数量最多（37%的问题在周一和周二提出）。感染HIV的危险因素是最常见的关注点（69%），其次是检测窗口期（12.6%）、实验室结果（5.9%）、症状（4.7%）、诊断（2.7%）和治疗（2.2%）。
我们的结果证实了对这种“向专家提问”互联网服务的巨大需求，至少在艾滋病和肝炎方面。匿名性、免费访问和即时回复等因素是其成功的关键因素。
