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2009-08-17 06:08:02
By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter by Dennis Thompson
healthday Reporter Sun Aug 16, 11:47 pm ET
SUNDAY, Aug. 16 (HealthDay News) -- People regularly turn to the Internet for
games and gossip, news and entertainment, essential information and high
weirdness.
And now, apparently, for their health as well.
A number of successful online medical interventions have been reported in
recent months, helping folks quit smoking, lower their blood pressure and deal
with any number of ailments.
New York City cardiologist Dr. Nieca Goldberg figures it's a great trend, as
long as people are going to reliable and trusted sources for help.
"I think it is the wave of the future and, theoretically, it seems like a great
idea," said Goldberg, a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association, a
clinical associate professor of medicine and medical director of the Women's
Heart Program at New York University Langone Medical Center and author of Dr.
Nieca Goldberg's Complete Guide to Women's Health. "There could be multiple
interactions with patients that are brief and effective."
Online interventions have spanned a variety of medical issues. One program, for
instance, used Internet and telephone interactions with heart attack survivors
and cardiac patients to help improve their heart health. A study found that
participants' blood pressure and cholesterol levels fell, more of them quit
smoking and they were one-third less likely to die than cardiac patients who
did not receive the attention.
Several programs have popped up to help smokers quit. An analysis of 22
clinical trials found that Internet- and computer-based smoking cessation
programs gave smokers nearly twice the chance of successfully quitting than if
they had tried to quit without help.
Those successes have led the University of Illinois at Chicago to spearhead a
$2.9 million federal effort to encourage young adults to use proven online
smoking cessation programs.
Alcoholics also can find online support. A Dutch study found that one in five
excessive drinkers who used an online self-help Web site to help them with
their problem reported that they had lowered their alcohol intake to levels
less likely to cause health problems.
And chronic conditions such as psoriasis also have been shown to be helped by
online interventions. One study in Boston found that half of the users of
online psoriasis support groups believed that the quality of their lives had
improved, and two in five reported improvement in the severity of their
psoriasis.
In some instances, the Internet also provides "nudges" to help push people into
healthy habits. One worksite e-mail health program developed by Kaiser
Permanente, for instance, provided participants with weekly e-mails and
mid-week reminders that set personalized health goals for them based on an
earlier survey they had filled out. They were encouraged to eat more fruits and
vegetables, lower their intake of fats and sugars, and exercise more.
A study of the program found significant health improvements among people who
received the e-mails. They were, in fact, eating better and exercising more.
Even those with advanced fitness goals can receive online assistance. The
magazine Runner's World currently offers online training programs featuring
personal advice from world-class runner Bart Yasso.
Dr. Robert Mallin, an associate professor at the Medical University of South
Carolina, said such online programs could appeal to people who don't like going
to doctors, therapists or support groups for help with their problems.
"There's certainly an advantage to having face-to-face, eyeball-to-eyeball
contact, but I think also people who would never step into a doctor's office or
a room with a support group will explore those things online," said Mallin, a
spokesman for the American Academy of Family Physicians.
Online support groups, for example, allow people to gather information and
communicate with others who have a similar problem while retaining their
anonymity. "You don't have to participate," Mallin said. "People don't even
have to know you're there."
However, both Goldberg and Mallin voiced concerns, too.
Goldberg wants to see large-scale studies of the effectiveness of these online
programs before they are pursued to such an extent that they supplant regular
modes of health care.
"When there's a concern about cost containment, we have to make sure the cost
containment occurs within the context of quality care," she said. "This is a
great idea, but I don't think we're 100 percent there yet."
Mallin worries about people getting bad information from Web sites.
"The biggest worry everyone has about health information on the Web is how
accurate it is," he said. "I always ask my patients to run something by me
they've read on the Internet or on one of those chat sites."