Web medical information produces anxiety in parents of infants with suspected galactosemia.

Parents had already taken information about galactosemia from web medical pages because they were asked for a second blood sample from their infant suspected for the disease. All enzyme types of this disorder are diagnosed by neonatal screening perinatally and treated with a galactose (GAL) free diet. The most frequent information about the disease was mental retardation (100%), eye cataracts (100%) liver dysfunction (90.5%), speech delay (76.1%), hypoglycemia (69.0%), seizures (31.0), etc. Most clinical and laboratory information about galactosemia taken from the Internet was correct for the classical type of the disorder. A differentiation of the galactosemia enzyme types is needed.