Monitoring Trends of Self-diagnosis in New York City Emergency Departments

The number of US adults who use the internet to access health information has increased from about 95 million in 2005 to 220 million in 2014. The public health impact of this trend is unknown; in theory, patients may be able to better help the doctor arrive at the correct diagnosis, but self-diagnosed patients may also inappropriately self-treat or delay going to the doctor. The current study examines trends in self-diagnoses in NYC EDs, identifies the demographic characteristics of self-diagnosed patients, and compares hospital admission rates of self-diagnosed patients with those who do not self-diagnose.

Objective

To monitor self-reported diagnosis from New York City (NYC) emergency department (ED) chief complaints (CC).