Nöroşirürji poliklinik bakımında siberkondrinin etkisi: kesitsel bir çalışma

Abstract

Amaç: Dijital çağ sağlık bilgilerini geniş ölçüde erişilebilir hale getirmiş, ancak aynı zamanda bireylerin semptomları çevrim içi aşırı derecede araştırarak sağlık kaygısını artırdığı siberkondriyi de körüklemiştir. Bu durum, baş ağrısı veya bel ağrısı gibi yaygın şikâyetlerin ciddi rahatsızlıklarla ilişkili olduğu nöroşirürjide kritik öneme sahiptir. Bu çalışma, psikiyatrik öykü, cinsiyet ve sosyoekonomik durumu dikkate alarak siberkondrinin nöroşirürji poliklinik hastaları üzerindeki etkisini araştırmaktadır. Gereç ve yöntem: Bu prospektif gözlemsel çalışmaya, üçüncü basamak bir hastanedeki rastgele seçilmiş iki nöroşirürji polikliniğinden 90 yeni hasta dahil edildi. Demografik veriler, tıbbi öykü, önceki sağlık hizmeti etkileşimleri ve çevrim içi araştırma davranışları toplandı. Depresyon Anksiyete Stres Ölçeği (DASS-21), siberkondriyi, depresyonu, anksiyeteyi ve stresi ölçmek için kullanıldı. İstatistiksel analizde ki-kare, Fisher’ın kesin testi ve Spearman korelasyon testleri kullanıldı. Bulgular: 90 hastanın 55’i (%61,1) kadın, 35’i (%38,9) erkekti. Hastaların %40’ı, ziyaretlerinden önce semptomlarını çevrim içi araştırdığını bildirdi. Kadınlar ve psikiyatrik öyküsü olan hastalar, tüm psikolojik ölçümlerde anlamlı derecede daha yüksek puanlar aldı. Ziyaret öncesi internet kullanımı, artmış siberkondri, anksiyete, depresyon ve stres ile korele bulundu. Daha düşük gelirli hastalar daha yüksek siberkondri puanlarına sahipti. Siberkondri, artmış anksiyete ve stres düzeyleriyle güçlü bir şekilde ilişkilendirildi. Sonuç: Siberkondri, nöroşirürji polikliniklerinde sağlık kaygısına önemli ölçüde katkıda bulunarak gereksiz yönlendirmelere yol açmaktadır. Cinsiyet, psikiyatrik öykü ve düşük gelir düzeyleri daha yüksek duyarlılıkla ilişkilidir. Hasta eğitimi, psikolojik destek ve geliştirilmiş doktor-hasta iletişimi, etkisini azaltmaya ve sağlık hizmeti verimliliğini artırmaya yardımcı olabilir.

Keywords

• Siberkondri
• sağlık kaygısı
• nöroşirürji polikliniği
• çevrim içi sağlık bilgisi
• psikolojik faktörler

The effect of cyberchondria in neurosurgical outpatient care: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Purpose: The digital age has made health information widely accessible but also fueled cyberchondria, where individuals excessively search symptoms online, increasing health anxiety. This is critical in neurosurgery, where common complaints like headaches or back pain are linked to serious conditions. This study investigates the impact of cyberchondria on neurosurgical outpatients, considering psychiatric history, gender, and socioeconomic status. Material and methods: This prospective observational study included 90 new patients from two randomly selected neurosurgery clinics at a tertiary care hospital. Data on demographics, medical history, prior healthcare interactions, and online research behaviors were collected. The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21) measured cyberchondria, depression, anxiety, and stress. Statistical analysis used chi-square, Fisher’s exact, and Spearman’s correlation tests. Results: Of 90 patients, 55 (61.1%) were women and 35 (38.9%) were men. Forty percent reported researching symptoms online before their visit. Women and patients with psychiatric history scored significantly higher on all psychological measures. Pre-visit internet use correlated with elevated cyberchondria, anxiety, depression, and stress. Lower-income patients had higher cyberchondria scores. Cyberchondria is strongly correlated with increased anxiety and stress levels. Conclusion: Cyberchondria significantly contributes to health anxiety in neurosurgical clinics, leading to unnecessary referrals. Gender, psychiatric history, and lower income levels are associated with higher susceptibility. Patient education, psychological support, and improved doctor-patient communication may help reduce its impact and enhance healthcare efficiency.

Keywords

• Cyberchondria
• health anxiety
• neurosurgery outpatient clinic
• online health information
• psychological factors.

References

1. Taylor S. Understanding and treating health anxiety: A cognitive-behavioral approach. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice. 2004;11(1):112-123. doi:10.1016/S1077-7229(04)80015-4
2. Muse K, McManus F, Leung C, Meghreblian B, Williams JMG. Cyberchondriasis: fact or fiction? A preliminary examination of the relationship between health anxiety and searching for health information on the Internet. J Anxiety Disord. 2012;26(1):189-196. doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2011.11.005
3. Torlak MS, Türktemi̇Z H. Determining relationship between headache and cyberchondria levels in university students with headache. JIHSAM. 2022;8(16):35-40. doi:10.48121/jihsam.1146375
4. French JH, Hameed S. Illness Anxiety Disorder. In: StatPearls. S. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK554399/. Accessed December 11, 2024
5. Doglietto F, Vezzoli M, Biroli A, et al. Anxiety in neurosurgical patients undergoing nonurgent surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic. Neurosurgical Focus. 2020;49(6):E19. doi:10.3171/2020.9.FOCUS20681
6. Carr T, Teucher U, Mann J, Casson AG. Waiting for surgery from the patient perspective. Psychol Res Behav Manag. 2009;2:107-119. doi:10.2147/prbm.s7652
7. Kubo Y, Ogasawara K, Kashimura H, et al. Cognitive function and anxiety before and after surgery for asymptomatic unruptured intracranial aneurysms in elderly patients. World Neurosurg. 2010;73(4):350-353. doi:10.1016/j.wneu.2010.01.001
8. Gjerde PB, Litleskare S, Lura NG, Tangen T, Helland CA, Wester K. Anxiety and depression in patients with intracranial arachnoid cysts-a prospective study. World Neurosurg. 2019;132:e645-e653. doi:10.1016/j.wneu.2019.08.058

9. Dhandapani M, Gupta S, Mohanty M, Gupta SK, Dhandapani S. Prevalence and Trends in the Neuropsychological Burden of Patients having Intracranial Tumors with Respect to Neurosurgical Intervention. Ann Neurosci. 2017;24(2):105-110. doi:10.1159/000475899
10. Dahal P, Kahana E, Zhou N, Zhao Y, Burnham D. Health-related anxiety, doctor–patient relationshıp, and communications in late life. Innov Aging. 2023;7(Suppl 1):661. doi:10.1093/geroni/igad104.2149
11. Jungmann SM, Gropalis M, Schenkel SK, Witthöft M. Is cyberchondria specific to hypochondriasis? J Anxiety Disord. 2024;102:102798. doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2023.102798
12. Kumchenko S, Rostovzeva N, Rasskazova E, Tkhostov A. Relationship of cyberchondria to hypochondriac beliefs and internet use. Eur Psychiatry. 2021;64(Suppl 1):186-187. doi:10.1192/j.eurpsy.2021.493
13. Abu Khait A, Mrayyan MT, Al Rjoub S, Rababa M, Al Rawashdeh S. Cyberchondria, Anxiety Sensitivity, Hypochondria, and Internet Addiction: Implications for Mental Health Professionals. Curr Psychol. 2023;42:2741-5752. doi:10.1007/s12144-022-03815-3
14. Kobryn M, Duplaga M. Cyberchondria severity and utilization of health services in Polish society: a cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health. 2024;24(1):902. doi:10.1186/s12889-024-18399-9
15. Norton PJ. Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS-21): psychometric analysis across four racial groups. Anxiety Stress Coping. 2007;20(3):253-265. doi:10.1080/10615800701309279
16. McElroy E, Kearney M, Touhey J, Evans J, Cooke Y, Shevlin M. The CSS-12: Development and Validation of a Short-Form Version of the Cyberchondria Severity Scale. Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw. 2019;22(5):330-335. doi:10.1089/cyber.2018.0624
17. Kirmizi M, Yalcinkaya G, Sengul YS. Gender differences in health anxiety and musculoskeletal symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. J Back Musculoskelet Rehabil. 2021;34(2):161-167. doi:10.3233/BMR-200301
18. Hawamdeh S, Moussa FL, Al-Rawashdeh S, Hawamdih SA, Moussa MahamanL. Illness Anxiety Disorder and Distress among Female Medical and Nursing Students. Clin Pract Epidemiol Ment Health. 2023;19:e17450179277976. doi:10.2174/0117450179277976231115070100
19. McLean CP, Asnaani A, Litz BT, Hofmann SG. Gender Differences in Anxiety Disorders: Prevalence, Course of Illness, Comorbidity and Burden of Illness. J Psychiatr Res. 2011;45(8):1027-1035. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2011.03.006
20. Shahani R, Asmi F, Ma J, et al. How cyberchondria and decision self-efficacy shapes the acceptability of COVID-19 vaccine: A gender-based comparison. Digit Health. 2023;9:20552076231185430. doi:10.1177/20552076231185430
21. Vismara M, Benatti B, Ferrara L, et al. A preliminary investigation of Cyberchondria and its correlates in a clinical sample of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety and depressive disorders attending a tertiary psychiatric clinic. Int J Psychiatry Clin Pract. 2022;26(2):111-122. doi:10.1080/13651501.2021.1927107
22. Mathes BM, Norr AM, Allan NP, Albanese BJ, Schmidt NB. Cyberchondria: Overlap with health anxiety and unique relations with impairment, quality of life, and service utilization. Psychiatry Res. 2018;261:204-211. doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2018.01.002
23. Winokur G. Anxiety disorders. Relationships to other psychiatric illness. Psychiatr Clin North Am. 1988;11(2):287-293.
24. Ülkü G, Karaavcı NÇ, Elbir Ç, Demirtaş OK. Retrospective Evaluation of Neurosurgery Outpatient Services in 3 Different Tertiary Care Hospitals in Turkey. World Neurosurg. 2024;181:e911-e917. doi:10.1016/j.wneu.2023.11.013
25. Gedik SA, Atay E, Pala SC, et al. Evaluation of health anxiety in adults admitting to primary healthcare institutions. North Clin Istanb. 2023;10(1):87-94. doi:10.14744/nci.2021.40111
26. Kobori O, Okita M, Shiraishi T, Hasegawa T, Iyo M. Health anxiety and healthcare costs in Japanese individuals: an Internet survey. Health Psychol Behav Med. 2014;2(1):833-840. doi:10.1080/21642850.2014.945935
27. Barsky AJ, Orav EJ, Bates DW. Somatization increases medical utilization and costs independent of psychiatric and medical comorbidity. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2005;62(8):903-910. doi:10.1001/archpsyc.62.8.903
28. Mobley D, Baum NH, Beattie A, Nemeroff C. When Imagination Becomes a Disease: Dealing With Hypochondriacal Patients in Clinical Practice. Ochsner J. 2019;19(2):70-73. doi:10.31486/toj.18.0123
29. Turan K, Tunçez M, Muratoğlu OG, Ergün T, Çabuk H. Patient anxiety levels in orthopedic outpatient clinics at hospitals with different patient population densities. J Surg Med. 2022;6(2):154-157. doi:10.28982/josam.1051222
30. Rosenbluth H, Hall M. Hypochondria: What’s Behind the Hidden Costs of Healthcare in America. Rodin Books + ORM; 2024.
31. Tyrer P. Why health anxiety needs to be recognised in hospital practice. Clin Med. 2020;20(3):339-342. doi:10.7861/clinmed.2019-0346
32. Qian Z, Pines A, Stone BV, Lipsitz SR, Moran LV, Trinh QD. Changes in anxiety and depression in patients with different income levels through the COVID-19 pandemic. J Affect Disord. 2023;338:17-20. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2023.06.003
33. Witteveen D, Velthorst E. Economic hardship and mental health complaints during COVID-19. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020;117(44):27277-27284. doi:10.1073/pnas.2009609117
34. Estrella Proaño A, Rivadeneira MF, Alvarado J, et al. Anxiety and depression in first-year university students: the role of family and social support. Front Psychol. 2024;15:1462948. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1462948
35. Nadeem F, Malik NI, Atta M, et al. Relationship between Health-Anxiety and Cyberchondria: Role of Metacognitive Beliefs. J Clin Med. 2022;11(9):2590. doi:10.3390/jcm11092590
36. Doherty Torstrick ER, Walton KE, Fallon BA. Cyberchondria: Parsing health anxiety from online behavior. Psychosomatics. 2016;57(4):390-400. doi:10.1016/j.psym.2016.02.002
37. Starcevic V. Keeping Dr. Google under control: how to prevent and manage cyberchondria. World Psychiatry. 2023;22(2):233-234. doi:10.1002/wps.21076
38. Hu Y, Yang Z, Li Y, Xu Y, Zhou X, Guo N. Anxiety symptoms and associated factors among chronic low back pain patients in china: a cross-sectional study. Front Public Health. 2022;10:878865. doi:10.3389/fpubh.2022.878865
39. Mantonakis L, Belesioti I, Deligianni CI, et al. Depression and anxiety symptoms in headache disorders: an observational, cross-sectional study. Neurol Int. 2024;16(2):356-369. doi:10.3390/neurolint16020026