“Cyberchondria”—the practice of leaping to dire conclusions while researching personal health matters online—has been around for a decade or so.

A recent study of the phenomenon by researchers at Microsoft found Web searches for common conditions, such as headache and mild chest pain, were more likely to lead consumers to sites describing serious illnesses than benign conditions, even though the serious diseases are much more rare.

For example, a search for headaches produces just as many links to brain tumor as to caffeine withdrawal, although the chance of having a brain tumor is miniscule.

Researchers also found about a third of the consumers conducting health searches ramped up their follow-up searches to find out about more serious conditions.

Of the more than 500 Microsoft employees who answered a survey about their online health search habits, more than half said online medical queries related to a serious illness had interrupted their day-to-day activities at least once.

A majority of U.S. doctors practice defensive medicine—ordering unnecessary tests, procedures, referrals, and even hospitalizations—to avoid legal action.

A study by the Massachusetts Medical Society found 83 percent of physicians surveyed said they had practiced defensive medicine, and an average of 18 to 28 percent of tests, procedures, referrals, and consultations and 13 percent of hospitalizations were ordered to avoid lawsuits.

The findings were similar to those reported by doctors in other states. The study found 28 percent of physicians surveyed said liability concerns affected the care they provided “a lot.” Roughly one in four doctors ordered excessive tests, including X-rays and ultrasounds, because they were worried about missing something and being sued.

Almost one in three adults who has been told he or she has asthma may not have the chronic airway disease, according to a study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal of 496 men and women who had been diagnosed with the disease.

Researchers concluded some of the misdiagnosed cases could result from bad viral infections, but the main reason people are misdiagnosed is because doctors don’t always perform a key lung-function test called spirometry.

Editors reviewing the study pointed out that trying to diagnose asthma without doing such testing was like trying to diagnose high blood pressure without taking blood pressure readings.

Other serious problems that can be mistaken for asthma include chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and congestive heart failure.

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