Atypical Patients Fall Through the Cracks
As hard as it is to be sick, it is harder when you are an atypical patient. An atypical patient is someone who has a disease and does not come from the population of people who typically get that disease. An example is the former US Senator from Massachusetts, Edward Brooke, who, in 2003, “was diagnosed with breast cancer and worked to raise awareness that the disease also affects men.” (This was just in the news because Barbara Walters revealed on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” that they were more than just friends.) Other examples are young women with heart disease and teenage boys with anorexia.
Atypical Patients Struggle to Find Information and Support Online
When someone is concerned about a disease, the internet is an easy place to turn for information and support. In fact, 80% of people in the US who use the Internet search for health information for themselves or a loved one.
Online information and support are generally targeted to the typical patient. While many people don’t know what to search for or what to call a disease, these difficulties are compounded for an atypical patient whose search results may not be relevant. A friend of mine asked me to help her find an online health community for a friend diagnosed with apraxia. Most of the sites I found supported the needs of parents whose children have apraxia. Finally, I asked a speech therapist, who suggested looking at stroke sites, since apraxia in adults often results from a stroke. Even with a diagnosis, it was hard to find relevant information and support.
One of my students last fall designed an online health community for young women with osteoporosis and osteopenia, diseases that typically strike older women. My student believed that a young woman concerned about her bone density or diagnosed with osteoporosis needs information targeted to, support from, and a site designed for people her age.
Patients – and Doctors – Are Less Likely to Know Risks and Symptoms
People are notoriously bad about following medical advice about self-exams and healthy behaviors. When the warning signs of a disease are publicized, it is only the symptoms experienced by typical patients and, furthermore, the publicity is targeted to that population.
Atypical patients are less likely to know that they are at risk or how to detect a disease; thus men rarely perform breast self-exams. Sen. Brooke ignored early warning signs and “assumed the discomfort was simply his aging body’s way of slowing him down.” When his wife noticed a lump, he mentioned it to his doctor and ended up having a double mastectomy. Because of his own experience, he has worked to encourage doctors to perform breast exams on men and to encourage men to perform self-exams. Furthermore the symptoms of some diseases can be different in an atypical population, such as those of a woman experiencing a heart attack.
It is not just patients who lack awareness of risks and symptoms, but doctors as well. Furthermore, treatment for an atypical population can be more difficult since medications are less likely to have been tested on this population.
The Stigma of Disease Is Greater
Finally, an atypical patient may feel more of a stigma, or perceived stigma. Sen. Brooke, a private man, had trouble disclosing the disease even to his children initially. When an atypical patient discloses a diagnosis, the reaction is likely to be shock or disbelief, thus perpetuating the silence about these diseases.
Health Sites Need to Meet the Needs of Atypical Patients
Most health sites are designed for the populations who typically get that disease. It is important to design for these atypical patients as well in order to better meet their needs and to increase general awareness. In some cases, targeted sites are necessary since the information and support needs, diagnosis, and treatment of an atypical patient are so different from those of the populations more commonly afflicted.
Advancing from Atypical to Typical - The Name of a Disease and the Name of this Category of Disease
If a disease starts to become more common in a specific demographic, it gets its own name as well as greater recognition, such as early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Although the symptoms are similar to Alzheimer’s disease in older patients, the patient’s age may impact both treatment and family support needs. Male menopause is a very different type of example, since it refers more to a collection of symptoms than a disease.
I thought there might be a term for diseases that strike an atypical population. Every term I tried had a different meaning, such as outlier or differential. Is there an accurate description in medical or lay terminology for this category of diseases?
2 comments May 5, 2008
I love James Bond movies. I have never read Ian Fleming’s novels or even thought much about him. I was therefore interested to read that the Imperial War Museum London recently launched an online exhibition exploring “
Marcus Welby, MD
“recognize exemplary TV storylines that best inform, educate and motivate viewers to make choices for healthier and safer lives. Past recognition has been given for storylines about breast cancer, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, alcoholism, disability, fetal alcohol syndrome, car crashes, organ donation, and safe sex.” The award was started by the CDC for soap operas and has been expanded to include “daytime drama, primetime drama, primetime minor storyline, primetime comedy and telenovela.”
While Brutus’ motives seem self-serving, fear is a huge component of health and wellness. Many advertisements use subtle and not so subtle tactics to scare people into changing their behavior.