Examining the Public's Most Frequently Asked Questions About Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and Appraising Online Information About Treatment.

Autor:	Shepard S; Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences, Tulsa, USA., Sajjadi NB; Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences, Tulsa, USA., Checketts JX; Oklahoma State University Medical Center, Tulsa, USA., Hughes G; Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences, Tulsa, USA., Ottwell R; The University of Oklahoma, Tulsa, USA., Chalkin B; Oklahoma State University Medical Center, Tulsa, USA., Hartwell M; Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences, Tulsa, USA., Vassar M; Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences, Tulsa, USA.
Jazyk:	angličtina
Zdroj:	Hand (New York, N.Y.) [Hand (N Y)] 2024 Jul; Vol. 19 (5), pp. 768-775. Date of Electronic Publication: 2022 Dec 23.
DOI:	10.1177/15589447221142895
Abstrakt:	Background: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the most common entrapment neuropathy. Patients often search online for health information regarding common musculoskeletal complaints. Thus, the purpose of this study was to use language processing information from Google to assess the content of CTS frequently asked questions (FAQs) searched online and the transparency and quality of online CTS information. Methods: On March 11, 2021, we searched Google for 3 terms "carpal tunnel syndrome treatment," "carpal tunnel syndrome surgical treatment," and "carpal tunnel syndrome non-surgical treatment" until a minimum of 100 FAQs and their answer links were extracted from each search. We used Rothwell classification to categorize the FAQs. The Journal of the American Medical Association 's benchmark criteria were used to assess information transparency. Information quality was assessed using the Brief DISCERN tool. Results: Our Google search returned 124 unique FAQs. Fifty-six (45.2%) were value based and most were related to the evaluation of treatment options (45/56, 80.4%). The most common source type was medical practices (26.6%). Nearly half of the answer sources (45.9%) were found to be lacking in transparency. One-way analysis of variance revealed a significant difference in mean Brief DISCERN scores among the 5 source types, F (4, 119) = 5.93, P = .0002, with medical practices averaging the worst score (13.73/30). Conclusions: Patients are most commonly searching Google to gain information regarding CTS treatment options. Online sources such as medical practices should use widely accepted rubrics for ensuring transparency and quality prior to publishing CTS information. Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: No financial or other sources of support were provided during the development of this protocol. B.C. reports personal fees and nonfinancial support from Encore Medical, nonfinancial support from Medacta, outside the submitted work. M.V. reports grant funding from the National Institutes of Health, the US Office of Research Integrity, and Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology, all outside this work. M.H. receives research support through the National Institute of Justice and Health Resources and Services Administration, all outside of this work. All other authors have nothing to report.
Databáze:	MEDLINE
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