OBJECTIVE: The World Wide Web (WWW) is a new communications medium that permits investigators to contact patients in nonmedical settings and study the effects of disease on quality of life through self-administered questionnaires. However, little is known about the feasibility and, what is more important, the validity of this approach. An on-line survey for patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) and patients whose UC had been treated with surgical procedures was developed. To understand how patients on the WWW might differ from those in practice and the potential biases in conducting epidemiological research in volunteers recruited on the Internet, post-surgery patients who responded to the WWW survey were compared with those in a surgical practice. SETTING: The Internet and private practice surgical clinic. MAIN OUTCOMES: Scores from the Short form 36 (SF-36) Health Assessment Questionnaire and the Self-Administered Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (IBDQ). RESULTS: Over a 5-month period, 53 post-surgery patients enrolled in the Internet study; 47 patients from a surgical clinic completed the same computer-based questionnaire. Surgically treated patients on the WWW were younger than their clinic counterparts (median age category 35-44 years vs. 45-54 years, p = 0.01) but more ill with a lower summary IBDQ score (168 vs. 186, p = 0.019) and lower health status across almost all dimensions of the SF-36 (p = 0.016). CONCLUSIONS: It is feasible to conduct epidemiological research on the effects of UC on quality of life on the Web; however, systematic differences in disease activity between volunteer patients on the WWW and "in the clinic" may limit the applicability of results.
OBJECTIVE: The World Wide Web (WWW) is a new communications medium that permits investigators to contact patients in nonmedical settings and study the effects of disease on quality of life through self-administered questionnaires. However, little is known about the feasibility and, what is more important, the validity of this approach. An on-line survey for patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) and patients whose UC had been treated with surgical procedures was developed. To understand how patients on the WWW might differ from those in practice and the potential biases in conducting epidemiological research in volunteers recruited on the Internet, post-surgery patients who responded to the WWW survey were compared with those in a surgical practice. SETTING: The Internet and private practice surgical clinic. MAIN OUTCOMES: Scores from the Short form 36 (SF-36) Health Assessment Questionnaire and the Self-Administered Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (IBDQ). RESULTS: Over a 5-month period, 53 post-surgery patients enrolled in the Internet study; 47 patients from a surgical clinic completed the same computer-based questionnaire. Surgically treated patients on the WWW were younger than their clinic counterparts (median age category 35-44 years vs. 45-54 years, p = 0.01) but more ill with a lower summary IBDQ score (168 vs. 186, p = 0.019) and lower health status across almost all dimensions of the SF-36 (p = 0.016). CONCLUSIONS: It is feasible to conduct epidemiological research on the effects of UC on quality of life on the Web; however, systematic differences in disease activity between volunteer patients on the WWW and "in the clinic" may limit the applicability of results.
Authors: E J Irvine; B Feagan; J Rochon; A Archambault; R N Fedorak; A Groll; D Kinnear; F Saibil; J W McDonald Journal: Gastroenterology Date: 1994-02 Impact factor: 22.682
Authors: S E Locke; H B Kowaloff; R G Hoff; C Safran; M A Popovsky; D J Cotton; D M Finkelstein; P L Page; W V Slack Journal: JAMA Date: 1992-09-09 Impact factor: 56.272
Authors: Frank L Wolters; Gilbert van Zeijl; Jildou Sijbrandij; Frederik Wessels; Colm O'Morain; Charles Limonard; Maurice G Russel; Reinhold W Stockbrugger Journal: World J Gastroenterol Date: 2005-12-07 Impact factor: 5.742
Authors: Chao Cheng Lin; Yun Chuan Li; Ya Mei Bai; Shih Jen Tsai; Mei Chun Hsiao; Chia Hsuan Wu; Chia Yih Liu; Jen Yeu Chen Journal: AMIA Annu Symp Proc Date: 2003