Medical Informatics Department, Hôpital Européen Georges-Pompidou, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, Paris, France.
UMRS 1138 - Centre de Recherche des Cordeliers, Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, INSERM, Paris, France.
J Med Internet Res. 2021 Feb 24;23(2):e13992. doi: 10.2196/13992.
Health care professionals are caught between the wish of patients to speed up health-related communication via emails and the need for protecting health information.
We aimed to analyze the demographic characteristics of patients providing an email, and study the distribution of emails' domain names.
We used the information system of the European Hospital Georges Pompidou (HEGP) to identify patients who provided an email address. We used a 1:1 matching strategy to study the demographic characteristics of the patients associated with the presence of an email, and described the characteristics of the emails used (in terms of types of emails-free, business, and personal).
Overall, 4.22% (41,004/971,822) of the total population of patients provided an email address. The year of last contact with the patient is the strongest driver of the presence of an email address (odds ratio [OR] 20.8, 95% CI 18.9-22.9). Patients more likely to provide an email address were treated for chronic conditions and were more likely born between 1950 and 1969 (taking patients born before 1950 as reference [OR 1.60, 95% CI 1.54-1.67], and compared to those born after 1990 [OR 0.56, 95% CI 0.53-0.59]). Of the 41,004 email addresses collected, 37,779 were associated with known email providers, 31,005 email addresses were associated with Google, Microsoft, Orange, and Yahoo!, 2878 with business emails addresses, and 347 email addresses with personalized domain names.
Emails have been collected only recently in our institution. The importance of the year of last contact probably reflects this recent change in contact information collection policy. The demographic characteristics and especially the age distribution are likely the result of a population bias in the hospital: patients providing email are more likely to be treated for chronic diseases. A risk analysis of the use of email revealed several situations that could constitute a breach of privacy that is both likely and with major consequences. Patients treated for chronic diseases are more likely to provide an email address, and are also more at risk in case of privacy breach. Several common situations could expose their private information. We recommend a very restrictive use of the emails for health communication.
医疗保健专业人员面临着患者希望通过电子邮件加速与健康相关的沟通，以及保护健康信息的需求之间的矛盾。
我们旨在分析提供电子邮件的患者的人口统计学特征，并研究电子邮件域名的分布。
我们使用欧洲 Georges Pompidou 医院（HEGP）的信息系统来识别提供电子邮件地址的患者。我们使用 1:1 匹配策略来研究与电子邮件存在相关的患者的人口统计学特征，并描述所使用的电子邮件的特征（从免费、商务和个人电子邮件类型方面进行描述）。
总体而言，4.22%（41004/971822）的患者群体提供了电子邮件地址。与患者的最后一次联系年份是存在电子邮件地址的最强驱动因素（优势比[OR]20.8，95%置信区间[CI]18.9-22.9）。更有可能提供电子邮件地址的患者接受的是慢性病治疗，并且更可能出生于 1950 年至 1969 年之间（以出生于 1950 年之前的患者为参考[OR 1.60，95%CI 1.54-1.67]，与出生于 1990 年之后的患者相比[OR 0.56，95%CI 0.53-0.59]）。在所收集的 41004 个电子邮件地址中，有 37779 个与已知的电子邮件提供商相关联，有 31005 个电子邮件地址与谷歌、微软、Orange 和雅虎相关联，有 2878 个与商务电子邮件地址相关联，有 347 个与个性化域名相关联。
我们的机构最近才开始收集电子邮件。最后一次联系年份的重要性可能反映了最近在联系信息收集政策上的变化。人口统计学特征，尤其是年龄分布，可能是由于医院的人群偏差造成的：提供电子邮件的患者更有可能接受慢性病治疗。对电子邮件使用的风险分析显示了几种可能构成隐私泄露的情况，这些情况既可能发生，又可能产生重大后果。接受慢性病治疗的患者更有可能提供电子邮件地址，并且在隐私泄露的情况下风险更大。几种常见的情况可能会暴露他们的私人信息。我们建议对电子邮件在健康沟通方面的使用进行非常严格的限制。
