背景:在美国,带状疱疹每年影响约100万人,带状疱疹后神经痛是最常见的并发症。阿片类药物作为带状疱疹或带状疱疹后神经痛的一线药物的频繁处方有助于增加其治疗的医疗保健成本。尽管互联网零售商为预防和管理这些疾病提供替代产品的出现,对可用性的研究有限,成分,以及消费者对产品的偏好。
目的:这项研究使用互联网零售商亚马逊来确定用于治疗带状疱疹和带状疱疹后神经痛的产品的可用性,并根据列出的成分评估消费者的偏好。
方法:互联网零售商亚马逊在2020年9月被用来搜索与“带状疱疹”相关的产品。按评论和评级排序的顶级产品被确定为带状疱疹特定(包括产品标题或描述中的“带状疱疹”)或非带状疱疹特定。价格分析,评级,车辆类型,并进行了配料。车辆的类型,成分,对产品组中与“带状疱疹”相关的正面和负面评论百分比进行了双尾双样本比例Z检验,以评估带状疱疹特异性和带状疱疹非特异性产品之间的差异。在P<0.05时判断有统计学意义。
结果:在亚马逊上搜索“带状疱疹”一词后,根据4星或更多星的评级确定了检索到的超过3000种产品中的前131种产品。131种产品中有46种(35.1%)是带状疱疹特异性的。带状疱疹非特异性产品更有可能获得提及“带状疱疹”的正面评价(P=0.005)。车辆,香脂(P=.02),药膏(P=.04)更有可能是带状疱疹特异性的,而片剂或胶囊(P=.002)更可能是非带状疱疹特异性的。在分析的成分中,芦荟是排名最高的成分,包括在131种产品中的29种(22.1%)。芦荟(P=0.01),柠檬香膏(P<.001),维生素E(P=0.03),薄荷油(P=.008)更有可能包含在带状疱疹特有的产品中,而镁(P=0.01)更可能包含在带状疱疹非特异性产品中。
结论:有大量的产品和成分用于管理和治疗带状疱疹,其中某些成分是消费者喜欢的。批准的成分和消费者优选的成分之间存在差异。此外,对亚马逊等互联网零售商消费者使用的成分研究不足,未来的研究可以集中在流行成分的有效性,以减少互联网上的错误信息。
Herpes zoster affects approximately 1 million people annually in the United States, with postherpetic neuralgia as the most common complication. The frequent prescription of opioids as the first-line medication for herpes zoster or postherpetic neuralgia contributes to the increasing health care costs of their treatment. Despite the advent of internet retailers providing alternative products for the prevention and management these conditions, there are limited studies on the availability, ingredients, and consumer preference for the products.
This study used the internet retailer Amazon to determine the availability of products for the management of herpes zoster and postherpetic neuralgia, and assessed consumer preference based on listed ingredients.
The internet retailer Amazon was used to perform a search for products related to \"shingles\" in September 2020. Top products sorted by reviews and ratings were determined to be either shingles-specific (including \"shingles\" in either the product title or description) or shingles-nonspecific. Analysis of price, rating, type of vehicle, and ingredients was performed. The types of vehicles, ingredients, and percentages of positive and negative reviews related to \"shingles\" of the product groups were analyzed with a two-tailed two-sample proportions Z-test to assess the difference between shingles-specific and shingles-nonspecific products. Statistical significance was judged at P<.05.
The top 131 products among over 3000 products retrieved were determined based on a rating of 4 or more stars after searching for the term \"shingles\" on Amazon. Forty-six of the 131 products (35.1%) were shingles-specific. Shingles-nonspecific products were more likely to have positive reviews mentioning \"shingles\" (P=.005). Vehicles, balms (P=.02), and salves (P=.04) were more likely to be shingles-specific, whereas tablets or capsules (P=.002) were more likely to be shingles-nonspecific. Among the ingredients analyzed, aloe vera was the top-ranked ingredient, included in 29 of the 131 total products (22.1%). Aloe vera (P=.01), lemon balm (P<.001), vitamin E (P=.03), and peppermint oil (P=.008) were more likely to be included in the shingles-specific products, whereas magnesium (P=.01) was more likely to be included in shingles-nonspecific products.
There is an abundance of products and ingredients being used for the management and treatment of shingles with certain ingredients preferred by consumers. There is a discrepancy between approved ingredients and the ingredients preferred by consumers. Furthermore, there are insufficient studies on ingredients used by consumers on internet retailers such as Amazon, and future studies can focus on the effectiveness of popular ingredients to decrease misinformation on the internet.