The social media effect: the impact of fake news on women affected by endometriosis. A prospective observational study.
Anxiety
Endometriosis
Fake news
Internet
Journal
European journal of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive biology
ISSN: 1872-7654
Titre abrégé: Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol
Pays: Ireland
ID NLM: 0375672
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
Jul 2022
Jul 2022
Historique:
received:
22
02
2022
revised:
13
05
2022
accepted:
19
05
2022
pubmed:
1
6
2022
medline:
22
6
2022
entrez:
31
5
2022
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
Our purpose was to evaluate women's awareness of endometriosis and their ability to identify fake news about endometriosis on the internet. The second outcome was to identify those characteristics which make women more likely to believe in fake news. This prospective observational study was conducted at our academic outpatient clinic for endometriosis and pelvic pain. We enrolled 172 patients referred to our Center due to the suspicion of endometriosis, who were asked to fill in a two-part questionnaire. The first part included socio-demographic information, the evaluation of anxiety status (STAI Y6 and GAD-7), and endometriosis related-symptoms (EHP-5). The second part of the questionnaire was about fake news: women were asked whether they had encountered six different statings when searching the Internet, and to judge the likelihood that those 6 topics were true. 76.3% of patients found fake news about endometriosis online. Higher STAI-Y6 scores were associated with a higher risk of finding fake news about endometriosis (OR 1.05, 95% C.I. 1.01-1.09, p = 0.013). More than half of patients who came across the news regarding the impossibility of obtaining pregnancy for women affected by endometriosis considered this news moderately or highly credible, 6% of them even considered it completely plausible. No demographic characteristics were associated with thehigher perceived plausibility of the fake news. Gynecologists should be aware that some hot topics concerning endometriosis are widely talked about on the web and that many statements found online have no scientific base. Through this knowledge physicians could more easily engage patients by acquiring important insight into their main concerns and doubts, and could provide women with reliable and correct information regarding their disease, dissipating doubts and misconceptions.
Identifiants
pubmed: 35640437
pii: S0301-2115(22)00358-X
doi: 10.1016/j.ejogrb.2022.05.020
pii:
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Observational Study
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
101-105Informations de copyright
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