The Internet and prostate cancer patients: searching for and finding information

To define the characteristics of prostate cancer patients who use the Internet.

In October 2002, 511 prostate cancer patients from Stockholm-Gotland County completed a postal questionnaire consisting of 146 questions regarding use of the Internet, demographic factors, level of information about the disease and its treatment, quality of life and trade-off possibilities.

The response rate was 86.5% (n=511) and the mean age of the respondents was 71 years. A total of 210 men (41.1%) had access to the Internet. Eighty-two men (16.4%) had looked for information on prostate cancer, either by themselves or with the aid of others. Among men aged 50-60 years, 39% were Internet users, compared to 8% among men aged 75-80 years; the figures for university graduates versus those who had only attended elementary school were 33% and 3%, respectively. Fifty of the 82 men (61%) who searched for information regarded themselves as being satisfactorily informed by online information.

Of the men in this cohort, 16% searched the Internet for information regarding their prostate cancer. Young and well-educated men utilized the Internet more frequently than others, but they did not find information more often than older and less well-educated men. It is possible that the Internet promotes social inequality in obtaining healthcare in favor of well-educated, highly paid individuals.