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Review
. 2020 Mar;9(Suppl 2):S123-S134.
doi: 10.21037/tau.2019.09.29.

A review of the evolving landscape between the consumer Internet and men's health

Adithya Balasubramanian  1 , Justin Yu  1 , Ashwin Srivatsav  1 , Aaron Spitz  2 , Michael L Eisenberg  3   4 , Nannan Thirumavalavan  5 , J Abram McBride  6   7 , Larry I Lipshultz  6   7 , Alexander W Pastuszak  8
Affiliations
Review

A review of the evolving landscape between the consumer Internet and men's health

Adithya Balasubramanian et al. Transl Androl Urol. 2020 Mar.

Abstract

Internet adoption continues to increase as broadband access and mobile connectivity penetrate developing global markets. Alongside increasing adoption, the Internet continues to evolve and usher in new modes of user interaction. Social media and search engines have facilitated the emergence of the participatory web, in which users are able to contribute content, form online communities, and disseminate information. This participatory web is reshaping the patient-physician relationship as patients are able to search for medical information, directly engage with healthcare practitioners through social media, and make therapeutic decisions via online marketplaces. The ability for patients to self-diagnose and self-treat is highly relevant to andrology, given that men have a baseline reluctance to visit healthcare providers. Furthermore, men's health issues such as erectile dysfunction and male infertility are stigmatized, with men turning to the Internet for guidance. The focus of this review is to survey the academic literature that evaluates the quality of online content for four common men's health conditions: hypogonadism, male infertility, erectile dysfunction, and Peyronie's disease.

Keywords: Internet; Web2.0; andrology; digital health; men’s health; social media; urology.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: The focused issue “Contemporary Issues and Controversies in Men’s Health” was commissioned by the editorial office without any funding or sponsorship. LIL serves as an unpaid editorial board member of Translational Andrology and Urology from Nov 2019 to Oct 2021. LIL and AWP served as the unpaid Guest Editors of the focused issue. Dr. AW Pastuszak: Endo Pharmaceuticals—advisor, consultant, speaker; Boston Scientific—advisor; Antares Pharmaceuticals—advisor; Bayer AG—speaker. Dr. LI Lipshultz: American Medical Systems (speaker); AbbVie (consultant); Lipocine (consultant); Aytu Bioscience (consultant); Endo Pharmaceuticals (speaker/consultant). Dr. A Spitz: Chironhealth.com customer (telemedical platform); 2nd.MD (provide telemedical second opinions); Foresight imaging/TIMS telesurgical (consultant); Revactin.com (prior spokesperson); Endopharmaceuticals (speaker, spokesperson); AbbVie (speaker). Dr. ML Eisenberg: Sandstone—advisor; Ro—advisor; Dadi—advisor; Illumesense—advisor; Gilead—consultant. The other authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Overview of the early versus modern consumer Internet.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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