Web-based education decreases need for upper GI tract endoscopy in uninvestigated dyspepsia
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Web-based patient education effectively decreased the need for upper gastrointestinal tract endoscopy in patients with uninvestigated dyspepsia, according to a study in JAMA Internal Medicine.
“The use of upper GI tract endoscopy for patients with dyspepsia can be effectively decreased by a rate of more than 40% by implementing relevant web-based patient education,” Judith J. de Jong, MD, from the department of gastroenterology and hepatology, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, the Netherlands, and colleagues wrote. “We advocate the implementation of an online accessible patient education platform for dyspepsia management, in both primary and secondary care, to further decrease overuse of health care.”
In an open-label, multicenter clinical trial in the Netherlands, de Jong and colleagues identified 119 patients with dyspeptic symptoms referred for upper GI tract endoscopy by their general health care clinician. They randomly assigned patients to an intervention group that received web-based educational (n = 62) or a control group that underwent an upper GI tract endoscopy (n = 57). The follow-up period was 52 weeks.
“Education consisted of a self-managed web-based educational intervention, containing information on gastric function, dyspepsia and upper GI tract endoscopy,” de Jong and colleagues wrote.
Investigators assessed the difference in the proportion of upper GI tract endoscopy procedures between the intervention group and the control group at 12 weeks and 52 weeks follow-up.
Other outcomes included quality of life and symptom severity measured at baseline and 12 weeks.
“Significantly fewer patients compared with controls underwent upper GI tract endoscopy after using the web-based educational intervention: 24 (39%) vs 47 (82%) (relative risk, 0.46; 95% CI, 0.33-0.64; P < .001),” de Jong and colleagues wrote.
According to the researchers, symptom severity and quality of life similarly improved in both groups. During follow-up, one patient in the intervention group required an upper GI tract endoscopy.
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