Finding Medical Photographs of Patients Online: Randomized, Cross-Sectional Study
Rattachement africain : ca, us, no. Niveau de preuve : code pays fourni par la source.
Le résumé fourni par la source
BACKGROUND: Photographs from medical case reports published in academic journals have previously been found in online image search results. This means that patient photographs circulate beyond the original journal website and can be freely accessed online. While this raises ethical and legal concerns, no systematic study has documented how often this occurs. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this cross-sectional study was to provide systematic evidence that patient photographs from case reports published in medical journals appear in Google Images search results. Research questions included the following: (1) what percentage of patient medical photographs published in case reports were found in Google Images search results? (2) what was the relationship between open access publication status and image availability? and (3) did the odds of finding patient photographs on third-party websites differ between searches conducted in 2020 and 2022? METHODS: The main outcome measure assessed whether at least 1 photograph from each case report was found on Google Images when using a structured search. Secondary outcome variables included the image source and the availability of images on third-party websites over time. The characteristics of medical images were described using summary statistics. The association between the source of full-text availability and image availability on Google Images was tested using logistic regressions. Finally, we examined the trend of finding patient photographs using generalized estimating equations. RESULTS: From a random sample of 585 case reports indexed in PubMed, 186 contained patient photographs, for a total of 598 distinct images. For 142 (76.3%) out of 186 case reports, at least 1 photograph was found in Google Images search results. A total of 18.3% (110/598) of photographs included eye, face, or full body, including 10.9% (65/598) that could potentially identify the patient. The odds of finding an image from the case report online were higher if the full-text paper was available on ResearchGate (odds ratio [OR] 9.16, 95% CI 2.71-31.02), PubMed Central (OR 7.90, 95% CI 2.33-26.77), or Google Scholar (OR 6.07, 95% CI 2.77-13.29) than if the full-text was available solely through an open access journal (OR 5.33, 95% CI 2.31-12.28). However, all factors contributed to an increased risk of locating patient images online. Compared with the search in 2020, patient photographs were less likely to be found on third-party websites based on the 2022 search results (OR 0.61, 95% Cl 0.43-0.87). CONCLUSIONS: A high proportion of medical photographs from case reports was found on Google Images, raising ethical concerns with policy and practice implications. Journal publishers and corporations such as Google are best positioned to develop an effective remedy. Until then, it is crucial that patients are adequately informed about the potential risks and benefits of providing consent for clinicians to publish their images in medical journals.
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Le contrôle bibliographique ouvert
DOI retrouvé dans Crossref DOI retrouvé ; titre concordant.
- Titre Crossref
- Finding Medical Photographs of Patients Online: Randomized, Cross-Sectional Study
- Date Crossref
- 24/06/2024
- Éditeur
- JMIR Publications Inc.
- Type
- journal-article
Ce recoupement confirme des métadonnées liées au DOI. Il ne confirme ni la méthode ni les conclusions de l’étude, et il ne compte pas comme une seconde source scientifique indépendante.
Où se fait cette recherche
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University of Calgary pays non établi dans la noticeUniversité ou école supérieure
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McGill University Department of Anatomy & Cell Biology pays non établi dans la noticeUniversité ou école supérieure
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Memorial University of Newfoundland Health Sciences Library pays non établi dans la noticeUniversité ou école supérieure
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Université de Montréal pays non établi dans la noticeUniversité ou école supérieure
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Bruyère pays non établi dans la noticeÉtablissement de santé
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Campbell Collaboration pays non établi dans la noticeOrganisation à but non lucratif
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Cumming School of Medicine Department of Community Health Sciences pays non établi dans la noticeUniversité ou école supérieure
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School of Social Work pays non établi dans la noticeUniversité ou école supérieure
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Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences Department of Family Medicine pays non établi dans la noticeUniversité ou école supérieure
University of Calgary, Department of Anatomy & Cell Biology — McGill University et Health Sciences Library — Memorial University of Newfoundland, avec 9 autres affiliations.
Une affiliation ne permet pas de déduire la nationalité d’un auteur.