Internet Use by Patients with Lymphoma and Caregivers.

The Internet is changing the way that people learn about health and illness. At present do not exist data of the use of Internet by patients of lymphoma and her caregivers in Spain.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the distribution and patterns of Internet use by patients with lymphoma and her caregivers.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: 585 subjects (258 patients, 264 relatives and 63 health professionals), 228 male and 357 female, they have responded a questionnaire on diverse aspects of the use of Internet.

RESULTS: Two hundred fifty (42,7%) subjects use Internet, although only 27% make to obtain data on lymphoma. With respect to the group of patients 31% recognize to use Internet, but only the 23,3% do it by questions related to their disease. The main reasons for Internet use are to obtain information about treatments (74.7%) or second opinion medical (9.3%). The 77,6% have been using Internet for more than 3 years; the 47,2% have university studies and the 58,4% have between 33–50 years. Mainly the information search is made in Spanish language and through the Google finder. They consider that Information on lymphoma is acceptable (44.9%) or of enough quality (43.7%), trustworthy (50.6%) or of enough reliability (33.5%) and useful (45.6%) or quite useful (37.3%).

COMMENTARIES: This study contributes data on the use of Internet by patients with lymphoma and her caregivers in Spain. Oncologists should be familiar with this important resource to help patients access appropriate material.