Top

International Urogynecology Journal

Published in:

01-11-2016 | Original Article

Trends in internet search activity, media coverage, and patient-centered health information after the FDA safety communications on surgical mesh for pelvic organ prolapse

Authors: Benjamin V. Stone, James C. Forde, Valerie B. Levit, Richard K. Lee, Alexis E. Te, Bilal Chughtai

Published in: International Urogynecology Journal | Issue 11/2016

Abstract

Introduction

In July 2011, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a safety communication regarding serious complications associated with surgical mesh for pelvic organ prolapse, prompting increased media and public attention. This study sought to analyze internet search activity and news article volume after this FDA warning and to evaluate the quality of websites providing patient-centered information.

Methods

Google Trends™ was utilized to evaluate search engine trends for the term “pelvic organ prolapse” and associated terms between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2014. Google News™ was utilized to quantify the number of news articles annually under the term “pelvic organ prolapse.” The search results for the term “pelvic organ prolapse” were assessed for quality using the Health On the Net Foundation (HON) certification.

Results

There was a significant increase in search activity from 37.42 in 2010 to 57.75 in 2011, at the time of the FDA communication (p = 0.021). No other annual interval had a statistically significant increase in search activity. The single highest monthly search activity, given the value of 100, was August 2011, immediately following the July 2011 notification, with the next highest value being 98 in July 2011. Linear regression analysis of news articles per year since the FDA communication revealed r² = 0.88, with a coefficient of 186. Quality assessment demonstrated that 42 % of websites were HON-certified, with .gov sites providing the highest quality information.

Conclusions

Although the 2011 FDA safety communication on surgical mesh was associated with increased public and media attention, the quality of relevant health information on the internet remains of poor quality. Future quality assurance measures may be critical in enabling patients to play active roles in their own healthcare.

Machin SE, Mukhopadhyay S (2011) Pelvic organ prolapse: review of the aetiology, presentation, diagnosis and management. Menopause Int 17(4):132–136PubMed

Wang LC, Awamlh BA, Hu JC, Laudano MA, Davison WL, Schulster ML et al (2015) Trends in mesh use for pelvic organ prolapse repair from the Medicare database. Urology 86(5):885–891CrossRefPubMed

Mistrangelo E, Mancuso S, Nadalini C, Lijoi D, Costantini S (2007) Rising use of synthetic mesh in transvaginal pelvic reconstructive surgery: a review of the risk of vaginal erosion. J Minim Invasive Gynecol 14(5):564–569CrossRefPubMed

Chughtai B, Mao J, Buck J, Kaplan S, Sedrakyan A (2015) Use and risks of surgical mesh for pelvic organ prolapse surgery in women in New York state: population based cohort study. BMJ 350:h2685CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

US Food and Drug Administration (2008) FDA Public Health Notification: serious complications associated with transvaginal placement of surgical mesh in repair of pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence. Available from: http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/Safety/AlertsandNotices/PublicHealthNotifications/ucm061976.htm

US Food and Drug Administration (2011) UPDATE on serious complications associated with the transvaginal placement of surgical mesh for pelvic organ prolapse: FDA safety communication. Available from: http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/Safety/AlertsandNotices/ucm262435.htm

Glynn RW, Kelly JC, Coffey N, Sweeney KJ, Kerin MJ (2011) The effect of breast cancer awareness month on internet search activity—a comparison with awareness campaigns for lung and prostate cancer. BMC Cancer 11:442CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

Davis NF, Smyth LG, Flood HD (2012) Detecting internet activity for erectile dysfunction using search engine query data in the Republic of Ireland. BJU Int 110(11 Pt C):E939–E942CrossRefPubMed

Pelat C, Turbelin C, Bar-Hen A, Flahault A, Valleron A (2009) More diseases tracked by using Google Trends. Emerg Infect Dis 15(8):1327–1328CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

10.

Althouse BM, Ng YY, Cummings DA (2011) Prediction of dengue incidence using search query surveillance. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 5(8):e1258CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

11.

Ginsberg J, Mohebbi MH, Patel RS, Brammer L, Smolinski MS, Brilliant L (2009) Detecting influenza epidemics using search engine query data. Nature 457(7232):1012–1014CrossRefPubMed

12.

Eysenbach G, Kohler C (2002) How do consumers search for and appraise health information on the world wide web? Qualitative study using focus groups, usability tests, and in-depth interviews. BMJ 324(7337):573–577CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

13.

Chitika (2013) The value of Google result positioning. Available from: http://chitika.com/google-positioning-value. Accessed 17 September 2015

14.

van Deursen AJAM, van Dijk JAGM (2009) Using the internet: skill related problems in users’ online behavior. Interact Comput 21(5–6):393–402CrossRef

15.

Boyer C, Selby M, Scherrer JR, Appel RD (1998) The health on the net code of conduct for medical and health websites. Comput Biol Med 28(5):603–610CrossRefPubMed

16.

Starman JS, Gettys FK, Capo JA, Fleischli JE, Norton HJ, Karunakar MA (2010) Quality and content of internet-based information for ten common orthopaedic sports medicine diagnoses. J Bone Joint Surg 92(7):1612–1618CrossRefPubMed

17.

Lopez-Jornet P, Camacho-Alonso F (2009) The quality of internet sites providing information relating to oral cancer. Oral Oncol 45(9):e95–e98CrossRefPubMed

18.

Zermatten A, Khazaal Y, Coquard O, Chatton A, Bondolfi G (2010) Quality of web-based information on depression. Depress Anxiety 27(9):852–858CrossRefPubMed

19.

Rice NT, Hu Y, Slaughter JC, Ward RM (2013) Pelvic mesh complications in women before and after the 2011 FDA public health notification. Female Pelvic Med Reconstr Surg 19(6):333–338CrossRefPubMed

20.

Lawrentschuk N, Abouassaly R, Hackett N, Groll R, Fleshner NE (2009) Health information quality on the internet in urological oncology: a multilingual longitudinal evaluation. Urology 74(5):1058–1063CrossRefPubMed

21.

Alkhateeb S, Lawrentschuk N (2011) Consumerism and its impact on robotic-assisted radical prostatectomy. BJU Int 108(11):1874–1878. doi:10.1111/j.464-410X.2011.10117.x CrossRefPubMed

22.

Mulhall JP, Rojaz-Cruz C, Muller A (2010) An analysis of sexual health information on radical prostatectomy websites. BJU Int 105(1):68–72CrossRefPubMed

23.

Mirkin JN, Lowrance WT, Feifer AH, Mulhall JP, Eastham JE, Elkin EB (2012) Direct-to-consumer Internet promotion of robotic prostatectomy exhibits varying quality of information. Health Aff (Millwood). 31(4):760–769CrossRef

24.

Solomon ER, Janssen K, Krajewski CM, Barber MD (2015) The quality of health information available on the internet for patients with pelvic organ prolapse. Female Pelvic Med Reconstr Surg 21(4):225–230CrossRefPubMed

25.

Sajadi KP, Goldman HB, Firoozi F (2011) Assessing internet health information on female pelvic floor disorders. J Urol 186(2):594–596CrossRefPubMed

26.

Kakos A, Lovejoy D, Whiteside J (2015) Quality of information on pelvic organ prolapse on the Internet. Int Urogynecol J 26(4):551–555CrossRefPubMed

27.

Minaglia S, Kaneshiro B, Soules K, Harvey S, Grzankowski K, Millet L et al (2012) Assessment of internet-based information regarding pelvic organ prolapse and urinary incontinence. Female Pelvic Med Reconstr Surg 18(1):50–54CrossRefPubMed

28.

Lella A. comScore Releases April 2014 U.S. Search Engine Rankings. Available from: http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Market-Rankings/comScore-Releases-April-2014-US-Search-Engine-Rankings. Accessed 17 September 2015

Title: Trends in internet search activity, media coverage, and patient-centered health information after the FDA safety communications on surgical mesh for pelvic organ prolapse
Authors: Benjamin V. Stone
James C. Forde
Valerie B. Levit
Richard K. Lee
Alexis E. Te
Bilal Chughtai
Publication date: 01-11-2016
Publisher: Springer London
Published in: International Urogynecology Journal / Issue 11/2016
Print ISSN: 0937-3462
Electronic ISSN: 1433-3023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00192-016-3040-6

At a glance: The STEP trials

Springer Medicine

Trends in internet search activity, media coverage, and patient-centered health information after the FDA safety communications on surgical mesh for pelvic organ prolapse

Abstract

Introduction

Methods

Results

Conclusions

At a glance: The STEP trials

Springer Medicine

Abstract

Introduction

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Please log in to get access to this content

Other articles of this Issue 11/2016

Fourteen-day administration of corticosterone may induce detrusor overactivity symptoms

Response to the Comment on “Long-term effects of vacuum extraction on pelvic floor function: a cohort study in primipara”

Radiofrequency in female external genital cosmetics and sexual function: a randomized clinical trial

Recurrent pelvic organ prolapse: International Urogynecological Association Research and Development Committee opinion

The role of acupuncture in managing overactive bladder; a review of the literature

Five-year follow-up study of Monarc transobturator tape for surgical treatment of primary stress urinary incontinence