Using the Internet to obtain health information (“online health research,” OHR) is commonplace. This article provides a systematic narrative review of evidence concerning the relationship between OHR and health anxiety. We conclude that health anxiety is associated with more frequent self‐reported OHR, heightened distress after OHR, and increased doctor visits post‐OHR. Evidence suggests that OHR often has a reassurance seeking function and can relieve anxiety, but that it can also cause alarm and become a distressing, compulsive behavior. We present a novel model that integrates these perspectives and existing research within a single explanatory framework that distinguishes between problematic OHR and compulsive OHR, and describes the role of positive and negative metacognitions in their respective development.

中文翻译：

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在线健康研究和健康焦虑：系统评价和概念整合

使用互联网获取健康信息（“在线健康研究” OHR）是司空见惯的。本文对有关OHR与健康焦虑之间关系的证据进行了系统的叙述性回顾。我们得出的结论是，健康焦虑与自我报告的OHR频率更高，OHR后病情加重以及OHR后就诊次数增加有关。有证据表明，OHR通常具有寻求放心的功能并可以缓解焦虑，但它也可能引起警报并成为令人痛苦的强迫行为。我们提出了一个新颖的模型，该模型将这些观点和现有研究整合在一个单一的解释框架中，该框架可以区分有问题的OHR和强迫性OHR，并描述正面和负面元认知在各自发展中的作用。