Health Forums Good Source of Medical Advice? Yes, Says New Study

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Have you encountered a situation where you run into the Internet instead of a medical professional to diagnose your condition? For instance, you felt some strange feelings, searched it into the Internet, read about it and found a health forum discussing the same symptoms.

Some do so to avoid spending for medical checkups while others are shy enough to open up their condition to a health profession. "These forums are a double-edged sword; they can be a good place to discuss potentially embarrassing symptoms, such as those affecting areas that may be uncomfortable to talk to a doctor about," per The Triple Helix Online.

Yes, it is difficult to rely on these sites. The discussion might be factual, but your conditions might not be exactly the same as what you read. However, you should not worry too much because, according to a new study, health forums may not be as dangerous as assumed.

Science Daily reported that a new study carried out at Royal Holloway, University of London suggested that the medical advice one solicited from health forums online might be of better quality compared to what people tend to assume.

The research, entitled "Health Information from Internet Discussion Forums: How Bad is Dangerous," focused on three popular online discussion forum websites, which are Reddit, Mumsnet and Patient.

The researchers Ph.D. student Jennifer Cole, Dr. Chris Watkins and Dr. Dorothea Kleine from Royal Holloway asked doctors and member of the public to rate the information provided in response to questions about diabetes, HIV and chickenpox. The results were favorable. In some instances, there were information that were considered inaccurate but the assessors did not felt that the advice was bad.

Per the report, the NHS and most medical charities remain hesitant to support online discussion forum where patients discuss their medical symptoms or diagnoses. According to the researchers, there's a perception that forums contain unreliable information or advice that may pose a risk to readers.

However, the study finds otherwise. "In reality, forums such as reddit have very responsible posting policies, verifying the qualifications of posters who claim to be medical professionals, separating medical discussion forums from alternate therapy discussions, swiftly removing incorrect or potentially harmful information and encouraging posters to seek professional healthcare," Cole explained.

Rowan Davies, Head of Policy and Campaigns at Mumsnet also informed the researchers that there was no single case where anyone was harmed due to poor quality information they read on the site.

"Inaccurate information is dealt with on-thread by posters themselves, who will usually challenge it and post up alternative points of view. We think it's rare for incorrect or out-of-date information to go unchallenged," Davies said.

Cole is still encouraging everyone to understand the accuracy of the discussion platforms.

The study is published in the Journal of Internet Medical Research.