Lab news: Studying cancer patients online aids treatment

Scientists have discovered that analysing the way cancer patients interact online will help provide better support services.

According to research in the May issue of the urology journal BJUI, Dr Johannes Huber and her team noted that men with prostate cancer who visit online support groups are more likely to seek advice about therapy and treatment.

As part of the study at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, the team of scientists studied 501 threads for a 32-month period on the country's largest online prostate cancer forum.

It found that two-thirds of the questions were about therapy recommendations, 46 per cent were about treatment and side effects, while 46 per cent of the men explicitly sought emotional support.

"One thing that did surprise us about the forum was the tentative language used by the posters and the fact that they went to great lengths to avoid using the word cancer" Dr Huber said.

"It was almost as if the word was taboo," she explained, adding that the men preferred to use medical terms.