An Investigation of Google Searches for Knee Osteoarthritis and Stem Cell Therapy: What are Patients Searching Online?

Abstract

Background: Stem cell therapies have emerged as a potential treatment for osteoarthritis (OA), but their role remains controversial. Their growing popularity may lead patients to search for information online, but search queries and sources are unknown. Purpose: We sought to (1) identify the most frequently asked questions on Google related to knee OA and stem cell therapy, (2) assess the types of websites accessed through these searches, and (3) evaluate the transparency of these websites. Methods: The search terms “knee,” “osteoarthritis,” and “stem cell” were entered into Google. Frequently asked questions suggested by Google, and their corresponding websites were extracted. Questions and websites were classified by type. Journal of the American Medical Association ( JAMA) benchmark criteria were used as a measure of website transparency (range: 0–4). Analysis of variance tests were performed to compare JAMA benchmark criteria between website types. Results: Of the 145 questions and website extracted, the most common question subtype pertained to non-stem cell treatments (41.4%) for knee OA; the most common website types were medical publishers (24.8%) and nonacademic medical practices (22.8%). JAMA scores were highest for medical publishers (mean: 3.81) and lowest for nonacademic medical practices (mean: 1.55). Nonacademic medical practices had significantly worse JAMA scores compared with commercial, academic, and medical publishers. Conclusion: The most frequent questions pertained to non-stem cell treatments, although questions related to stem cell efficacy were most common among the 10 most frequent questions. Google searches on knee OA and stem cell therapies often directed the user to websites lacking transparency and verifiable information. Further research is warranted.

Insights Into Patients Questions Over Bunion Treatments: A Google Study

“…38 The JAMA Benchmark criteria have been used to effectively screen online information for fundamental aspects of information transparency. 8,9,21,30,35,40 The items used to determine transparency were as follows: authorship, attribution, currency, and disclosure. Sources meeting 3 more criteria are considered to have high transparency whereas sources meeting less than 3 criteria have poor transparency.…”

“…Previous orthopaedic investigations have used Google's PAA box to characterize frequently asked questions (FAQs) regarding total knee and hip arthroplasty and knee osteoarthritis. 35,40 Yet, no such investigation has been conducted for HV. The purpose of this study is to (1) characterize the content of FAQs regarding HV, (2) categorize the sources answering the FAQs, and (3) assess both the quality and transparency of the suggested sources.…”

Osteoarthritis as an Umbrella Term for Different Subsets of Humans Undergoing Joint Degeneration: The Need to Address the Differences to Develop Effective Conservative Treatments and Prevention Strategies

“…Such lack of progress has been discouraging for both the millions of patients with the disease, as well as companies that have invested heavily in research programs. Such frustration by patients can lead to them searching the internet for potential treatments [ 13 ], even if not scientifically proven and validated. Why progress has been so slow is likely due to a multitude of factors, such as under-appreciation of the complexity of the problem, the use of preclinical models that do not accurately reflect human disease, a failure to address the mechanistic variation in different subsets of patients, a lack of appreciation of the contribution of inflammatory processes in disease progression, disconnects between biologists and biomechanical experts, and an inability to determine when the condition actually is initiated for most patients other than those with post-traumatic OA (PTOA) [ 11 ].…”