NEW YORK, Jun 08 (Reuters Health) - Many cancer patients are turning to the Internet for information about their disease, according to the results of a recent study.

In light of this finding, "physicians need to become educated about the various Internet sites so they can steer patients to sites that offer the most reliable, accurate and updated information," Dr. James M. Metz of the University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center in Philadelphia told Reuters Health. He presented his findings recently at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual meeting in San Francisco.

Metz and his colleagues interviewed 330 patients from academic, community and veterans medical centers. Nearly 40% said they had a computer at home and 28% said they had access to e-mail.

Slightly more than 20% of the patients said they used the Internet to find cancer-related information, study findings show. Although primarily reported by patients from academic hospitals (41%), Internet use was also reported by 20% of patients from community hospitals and about 5% of patients at veterans (VA) hospitals.

"Patients at VA medical centers lack access to computers and the Internet and are unable to obtain information from this important resource," Metz said.

In a related study, investigators found that patients are not the only ones using the Internet. In many cases, their companions are also performing Web searches to obtain cancer-related information.

Dr. Sofia Yakren of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and her colleagues surveyed more than 400 cancer patients and their companions and found that almost 45% of the patients and 60% of the companions reported Internet use.

Younger individuals, those who owned a computer and those with graduate school education reported more Internet use than their peers, the investigators found. Female companions were more likely than male companions to report Internet use, but female patients were less likely than their male peers to say they used the Internet, findings show.

Most users said they searched the Internet--primarily government-sponsored Web sites--for information about treatment and diagnosis. Many others said they searched for physicians or hospitals.

However, the majority of Internet users (86% of patients and 92% of companions) said they used printed materials to supplement the information they received from the Internet.

Overall, printed materials were the most common resource used by patients and their companions, followed by the Internet and telephone resources.

For those who prefer the Internet, Metz offers the following advice: "Always ask your physicians about the material you have read, or bring in a copy for them to glance over to make sure you are receiving accurate information."

From ReutersHealth.com