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Background: Opioids e-commerce represents an important public health issue. While the literature describes this phenomenon in the USA, the studies about this topic are scarce in Europe. This review aims to describe the state of the art of the online opioids commerce and to explore the factors influencing the opioids e-commerce. Methods: Scientific literature available via four bibliographic databases (PubMed, Cochrane Collaboration, ISI Web of knowledge and Scopus) was screened on June 2012. Keywords used were 'Internet and opioids', 'Online and opioids', 'Web and opioids', 'Opioid selling', 'Opioid business', 'Opioid buy', and 'Opioid sale'. After the selection, 31 articles were finally identified as meeting the inclusion criteria. Results: The online market of opioids had experienced a boom thanks to the discount prices, the poor monitoring actions, the quickness and easiness of acquiring of these drugs. Legislation on the sale of drugs online differs among the countries. We found that the opioids e-commerce and its consequences are detailed for the USA context, while there is a lack of knowledge in Europe. Conclusions: Public health impact of online purchase is worthy of consideration and additional research, considering the potential underestimation of the phenomenon. Public health interventions can be indeed hampered by the lack of knowledge of professionals about this topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Our study aimed to estimate the prevalence of pregnancy e-health seekers in a large Italian sample; to explore the factors influencing the choices of the childbearing women regarding their lifestyles after internet consultation; and finally to investigate potential differences between primiparous and multiparous women in internet use to find information about pregnancy. Methods A multicentre survey was carried out in seven Italian cities. Data were collected through a validated questionnaire administered in waiting rooms of outpatient departments by medical doctors. Respondents were questioned about their sociodemographic status, their use of the internet to seek pregnancy information and their consequent choices to modify their lifestyles. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression. Results Almost all women were pregnancy e-health seekers (95%), including those who also received information from healthcare professionals. Indeed, the main reason for searching the web was the need of further knowledge on pregnancy-related topic, over and beyond other key advantages of the net such as anonymity, simplicity and rapidity. A higher likelihood of changing lifestyle after pregnancy e-health was observed among the women who searched institutional websites; declared more confidence in the information retrieved; participated into pregnancy-centred forum online; and were residents in Italy. Conclusions To reduce the likelihood for women of both finding erroneous information or misinterpreting correct ones, healthcare professionals should commit to fill the information gap and guide pregnant women in the online searches. Also, future studies are strongly needed to analyse the quality and accuracy of health information found on the web. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]