MSology.com, the sister site of NeuroSens, has recorded 70,000 visits by people wanting more information about multiple sclerosis. The site was launched in August 2012 by Lind Publishing as a weekly news service to provide patients and their families with accurate, up-to-date information about MS research. Lind currently publishes four weekly or biweekly news services for patients and healthcare professionals.
Patients and healthcare professionals can subscribe to the site to receive weekly updates in their inbox. Subscriptions are free.
To date, over 100 articles have been published on MSology on a range of topics, such as MS therapies, the latest research from meetings such as ECTRIMS and the AAN annual meeting, and diet and lifestyle factors. All information is obtained from medical journals, congresses and interviews with researchers to ensure that articles are medically accurate.
Visitors to the site read an average of 3-4 articles, which has resulted in about 250,000 page views since launch. Approximately 300 people now visit the site daily.
The most popular feature on the site is a Pre-Visit Questionnaire, developed in collaboration with MS nurse Colleen Harris from the Calgary MS clinic. The questionnaire enables patients to record their symptoms prior to their clinic visit and has been accessed 3,250 times. A French version, developed with nurse Josée Poirier from the MS clinic at Hôpital Notre-Dame in Montreal, will be available soon.
The most-read articles thus far are a summary of novel treatment approaches (e.g. T cell vaccine, anti-Th17, hormonal therapy), phase II results for ofatumumab, managing bladder symptoms, research on dietary interventions, and a summary of trial results for laquinimod.
Although all articles on MSology are written in English, the site has been accessed by people from all but three countries in the world (Sudan, Central African Republic and Greenland). The Top 10 countries visiting the site are the U.S., Turkey, Canada, India, U.K., Egypt, Russia, Mexico, South Africa and Saudi Arabia. An interesting finding is that many visitors are from countries with a low incidence of MS, which may indicate that patients there lack access to MS information and resources. About 20% of visitors use a browser translation, most commonly to translate articles into Spanish, French and Russian.
Healthcare professionals are encouraged to view and subscribe to the news service to keep abreast of the latest developments in MS research, and to refer their MS patients to MSology to learn more about their disease. To access the site, go to www.MSology.com.