Journal article
Online Symptom Checkers are Poor Tools for Diagnosing Men's Health Conditions
Urology (Ridgewood, N.J.), Vol.170, pp.124-131
12/2022
DOI: 10.1016/j.urology.2022.08.032
PMID: 36115428
Abstract
To analyze the accuracy of the 4 most commonly used online symptom checkers (OSCs) in diagnosing erectile dysfunction (ED), scrotal pain (SP), Peyronie's disease (PD), and low testosterone (LT).
One-hundred and sixty artificial vignettes were created by de-identifying recent initial outpatient consults presenting to discuss ED (40), SP (40), PD (40), and LT (40). The vignettes were entered into the 4 most frequently used OSCs (WebMD, MedicineNet, EverydayHealth, and SutterHealth) as determined by web traffic analysis tools. The top 5 conditions listed in the OSC differential diagnosis were recorded and scored.
WebMD's accuracy for ED, SP, PD, and LT vignettes was 0%, 22.5%, 0%, and 95%, respectively.
EverydayHealth was only able to diagnose SP 20% of the time, and failed to diagnose ED, PD, or LT on all occasions.
MedicineNet diagnosed ED, PD, SP, and LT in 100%, 98%, 27.5%, and 0% of vignettes, respectively.
SutterHealth correctly diagnosed ED, SP, and LT in 100%, 20%, and 80% of patients, respectively.
Cumulatively, the OSCs were most accurate in diagnosing ED and least accurate in diagnosing SP when using the Top 1 (37.5% vs 6.9%) and Top 5 (50% vs 24.5%) of the suggested conditions.
No OSC could accurately diagnose all the conditions tested. The OSCs, on average, were poor at suggesting precise diagnoses for ED, PD, LT, SP. Patients and practitioners should be cautioned regarding the accuracy of OSCs.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Online Symptom Checkers are Poor Tools for Diagnosing Men's Health Conditions
- Creators
- Rutul D. Patel - New York Institute of TechnologyAmanda R. Swanton - Dartmouth–Hitchcock Medical CenterMartin S. Gross - Dartmouth–Hitchcock Medical Center
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Urology (Ridgewood, N.J.), Vol.170, pp.124-131
- Publisher
- Elsevier Inc
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.urology.2022.08.032
- PMID
- 36115428
- ISSN
- 0090-4295
- eISSN
- 1527-9995
- Number of pages
- 8
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 12/2022
- Academic Unit
- Urology
- Record Identifier
- 9984701655802771
Metrics
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