Computer and internet use in vascular outpatients--ready for interactive applications?

BACKGROUND

Exploring patients' computer and internet use, their expectations and attitudes is mandatory for successful introduction of interactive online health-care applications in Angiology.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

We included 165 outpatients suffering from peripheral arterial disease (PAD; n = 62) and chronic venous and / or lymphatic disease (CVLD; n = 103) in a cross-sectional-study. Patients answered a paper-based questionnaire.

RESULTS

Patients were predominantly female (54.5%). 142 (86.1%) reported regular computer use for 9.7 +/- 5.8 years and 134 (81.2 %) used the internet for 6.2 +/- 3.6 years. CVLD-patients and internet-user were younger and higher educated, resulting in a significant difference in computer and internet use between the disease groups (p < 0.01 for both). Time spent online summed up to 4.3 +/- 2.2 days per week and 1.44 +/- 1.2 hours per day for all internet users without significant differences between the groups. The topics retrieved from the internet covered a wide spectrum and searches for health information were mentioned by 41.2 %. Although confidence in the internet (3.3 +/- 1.1 on a 1-6 Likert scale) and reliability in information retrieved from the internet (3.1 +/- 1.1) were relatively low, health-related issues were of high actual and future interest. 42.8% of the patients were even interested in interactive applications like health educational programs, 37.4% in self-reported assessments and outcome questionnaires and 26.9% in chatforums; 50% demanded access to their medical data on an Internetserver. Compared to older participants those < 50 yrs. used the internet more often for shopping, chatting, and e-mailing, but not for health information retrieval and interactive applications.

CONCLUSIONS

Computers are commonly used and the internet has been adopted as an important source of information by patients suffering from PAD and CVLD. Besides, the internet offers great potentials and new opportunities for interactive disease (self-)management in angiology. To increase confidence and reliability in the medium a careful introduction and evaluation of these new online applications is mandatory.