‘The study found that Google looking at the doctor may not be as anxious or misleading as it is believed.

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Toronto, OntarioCTV network) — Have you ever googled your symptoms to relieve your health-related anxiety and worried that you might mistakenly misdiagnose yourself and exacerbate your anxiety?

Now, according to a new study from the United States, “Dr. Google” does not reduce the accuracy of symptom assessments or exacerbate health anxiety.

In this study, published at the JAMA Network Open on Monday, patients who examined their symptoms at Google actually went into the medical setting, contrary to the general concern that the Internet could lead patients to the wrong path. The diagnosis was found to improve slightly.

Dr. David Levine, Ph.D., Corresponding Author and Physician in the General Internal Medicine and Primary Care Department at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Massachusetts, said: In a press release. “This begins to form the basis of evidence that there isn’t much harm, and in fact, there may be some good ones.”

To measure this phenomenon, the study recruited 5,000 participants. These participants are given a fictitious set of symptoms and should first make a potential diagnosis on the spot, imagining that “someone near them is experiencing the described symptoms.” I was asked. Then they are told to google for their symptoms and come up with a second diagnosis based on their online survey.

The scenarios given to them ranged from explaining mild illnesses to serious medical problems such as viruses, heart attacks, and strokes. It also spans four different triage levels. If people need to call 911 for emergency medical care. If the patient needs to see a doctor within a day, but does not need to rush to the hospital. If you need to see a doctor within a week. If the problem resolves itself and is likely not to require a doctor.

Participants were asked to record the level of medical care they believed the case needed, and then reported how anxious they were during the process.

After this exercise, the average person does not get good at triage (understanding which medical services are needed), but after consultation with the internet, the diagnosis is slightly more accurate, an increase of about 4%. ..

Their reported anxiety also did not change significantly after Google’s symptom examination.

One of the limitations of this study was that participants were asked to pretend to be Google on behalf of their loved ones, with anxiety and accuracy affecting themselves if they experienced symptoms. It is unknown whether or not to receive it.

The results are not always what the researchers expected. In his release, Levine stated that one of the things that influenced the study was how often patients receive false information from the Internet.

“I always have patients, and the only reason they come to my office is because they googled something and the internet said they had cancer,” he said. “I wondered” Is this all patients? How Much Cyber ​​Condria Is the Internet Producing? “

Cyber ​​Condria is a term that refers to the increased medical anxiety caused by the Internet.

However, false information from the Internet can be annoying, but Levine is planning a new study to see if artificial intelligence can help patients faster than Google. I will.

He said he would train artificial intelligence algorithms generalized in open source text, including sites such as Reddit and Twitter, to see if AI could provide a more accurate answer.

“Can AI make up for how people use the Internet?” He said. “Can doctors supplement how they use the Internet? That’s what we want to investigate.”

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