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Objective: To study the impact of the spontaneous use of Internet on breast cancer patients and on their relationship with health professionals.Methods: A mixed methodology was used. Two questionnaires were designed through three focus groups, and then administered to 186 patients and 59 professionals in order to assess: (1) patients' use of Internet for health-related information and (2) the impact of this information on patients' psychological outcomes and on their relationship with professionals.Results: Patients spent more time looking for illness-related information after diagnosis, using interactive communities more than static information websites. Patients and professionals disagreed about the use of Internet in terms of the knowledge it provides, and its psychological impact. The main barrier reported by patients regarding the sharing of online information with their professionals was the belief that it would damage their relationship.Conclusions: Both professionals and patients have a protectionist conception of the therapeutic relationship. This attitude tends to dismiss the positive impact that the use of Internet and the new communication tools may have in cancer patients. New resources should provide an "Internet Prescription" and modes of interaction to facilitate a more open digital communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Various food patterns have been associated with weight change in adults, but it is unknown which combinations of nutrients may account for such observations. We investigated associations between main nutrient patterns and prospective weight change in adults. Methods: This study includes 235,880 participants, 25-70 years old, recruited between 1992 and 2000 in 10 European countries. Intakes of 23 nutrients were estimated from country-specific validated dietary questionnaires using the harmonized EPIC Nutrient DataBase. Four nutrient patterns, explaining 67 % of the total variance of nutrient intakes, were previously identified from principal component analysis. Body weight was measured at recruitment and self-reported 5 years later. The relationship between nutrient patterns and annual weight change was examined separately for men and women using linear mixed models with random effect according to center controlling for confounders. Results: Mean weight gain was 460 g/year (SD 950) and 420 g/year (SD 940) for men and women, respectively. The annual differences in weight gain per one SD increase in the pattern scores were as follows: principal component (PC) 1, characterized by nutrients from plant food sources, was inversely associated with weight gain in men (−22 g/year; 95 % CI −33 to −10) and women (−18 g/year; 95 % CI −26 to −11). In contrast, PC4, characterized by protein, vitamin B2, phosphorus, and calcium, was associated with a weight gain of +41 g/year (95 % CI +2 to +80) and +88 g/year (95 % CI +36 to +140) in men and women, respectively. Associations with PC2, a pattern driven by many micro-nutrients, and with PC3, a pattern driven by vitamin D, were less consistent and/or non-significant. Conclusions: We identified two main nutrient patterns that are associated with moderate but significant long-term differences in weight gain in adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Communication is a corner stone of population-based breast cancer screening programs that need to invite all the women from their target population and provide them with balanced information on screening to guaranty informed participation. Invited women also need to be able to contact screening programs to get further information on screening procedures and/or cancel and reschedule appointments. This study describes the communication channels used by women invited for breast cancer screening to contact the program. The study population consisted of 141,684 women, aged 50–69 years, who were invited during 2015–2016 for screening by the Catalan Breast Cancer Screening Program (Spain). Multiple logistic regression models were performed to assess the association between age, screening history, socioeconomic status and reasons for contacting the program and the outcome variables (contact with the program; contact through information and communication technology (ICT) channels). Among the 141,684 women invited for BC screening, 22.5% contacted the screening office mainly to reschedule (42.2%) and cancel (29.2%) appointments. While the communication channel mostly used was the telephone, 24.8% of the women used ICT. ICT was more frequently used by women who had never been screened. Women who wanted to change their appointment were 65% (OR 1.65, 95%CI 1.54–1.76) more likely to use ICT than women who wanted to cancel it. This study showed the need to reinforce communication between women and breast cancer screening programs and the importance of offering communication channels suiting all women's needs to facilitate appointments' rescheduling and cancelling and therefore improve screening programs' efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]