PFS Foundation Web Traffic Up 33% Year Over Year – The Post-Finasteride Syndrome Foundation

SOMERSET, N.J., Jan. 5, 2016 – Traffic to the PFS Foundation website rose 33.6 percent in 2015, compared to 2014, according to Google Analytics.

Concurrently, users in 161 countries—or 82.5 percent of the world (as defined by the 195 nations recognized by the U.S. Department of State)—accessed information on the condition via PFSFoundation.org in 2015, versus 157 countries during the period from the website’s launch in August 2012 through 2014.

To date, an historic total of 176 countries (90 percent of the world) have accessed information on the condition.

Among the 18 nations that downloaded information from the website for the first time ever in 2015 are Mongolia, Zambia and Haiti.

Visits from outside the U.S. comprised 55 percent of the site’s total annual traffic in 2015.

PFS has been reported to occur in men who have taken the prescription drug finasteride to treat hair loss (under the brand name Propecia and generics), or enlarged prostates (Proscar and generics).

Symptoms include loss of libido, erectile dysfunction, depression, suicidal ideation, anxiety, panic attacks, Peyronie’s disease, penile shrinkage, gynecomastia, muscle atrophy, cognitive impairment, insomnia, severely dry skin, and tinnitus. The condition often has a life-altering impact on victims and their families, such as job loss and the breakup of marriages and romantic relationships, while also being linked to suicides.

In March 2015, the U.S. National Institutes of Health listed PFS on its Genetic and Rare Diseases Information Center, noting that “some patients who have taken finasteride have referred to side effects such as sexual dysfunction and depression (sometimes severe)… Studies sponsored by the NIH and other organizations are underway to better understand the effects of 5-alpha reductase inhibitor drugs.”

Following are analytics surrounding PFSFoundation.org use during 2015:

Popularity by nation (top 50 of 161)

1. United States
2. United Kingdom
3. India
4. Canada
5. Germany
6. Australia
7. Japan
8. Brazil
9. Italy
10. Spain
11. Netherlands
12. Argentina
13. South Korea
14. Poland
15. Ireland
16. Turkey
17. Sweden
18. France
19. Switzerland
20. Mexico
21. Israel
22. Austria
23. Greece
24. Belgium
25. New Zealand
26. Norway
27. South Africa
28. Finland
29. Portugal
30. Iran
31. Russia
32. United Arab Emirates
33. Denmark
34. Singapore
35. Philippines
36. Thailand
37. Hong Kong
38. Malaysia
39. Pakistan
40. China
41. Saudi Arabia
42. Slovenia
43. Colombia
44. Indonesia
45. Croatia
46. Chile
47. Romania
48. Kenya
49. Czech Republic
50. Egypt

Nations/territories that accessed the site for the first time in 2015 (18 of 18)

Anguilla
Antigua & Barbuda
British Virgin Islands
French Guiana
Guam
Haiti
Liberia
Malawi
Mongolia
Palau
Rwanda
Seychelles
St. Barthélemy
St. Lucia
St. Martin
Turks & Caicos Islands
U.S. Virgin Islands
Zambia

Site popularity by U.S. state (top 25 of all 50 + Washington, DC)

1. California
2. New York
3. Texas
4. Florida
5. Massachusetts
6. Illinois
7. New Jersey
8. Pennsylvania
9. Connecticut
10. Virginia
11. Georgia
12. Michigan
13. Maryland
14. Ohio
15. North Carolina
16. Washington
17. District of Columbia
18. Minnesota
19. Colorado
20. Arizona
21. Oregon
22. Tennessee
23. Missouri
24. South Carolina
25. Wisconsin

Site popularity by language (top 25 of 128*)

1. English
2. Portuguese
3. German
4. Japanese
5. Spanish
6. Italian
7. Dutch
8. French
9. Korean
10. Polish
11. Turkish
12. Swedish
13. Greek
14. Russian
15. Finnish
16. Norwegian
17. Chinese
18. Danish
19. Hebrew
20. Arabic
21. Hungarian
22. Czech
23. Slovakian
24. Romanian
25. Thai

*Includes different national varieties, such as American English, British English and Australian English.

Site’s top 10 most popular landing pages

1: Home page: Syndrome Overview

2: Post-Finasteride Syndrome: Physical Symptoms

3: Patient Recruitment for Medical Research

4: Post-Finasteride Syndrome: Mental & Neurological Symptoms

5: Published Research

6: Post-Finasteride Syndrome: Sexual Symptoms

7: Post Finasteride Syndrome Foundation News

8: PFS Resources

9: About the Post-Finasteride Syndrome Foundation

10: Doctors Recruiting PFS Patients for Research Studies

About the PFS Foundation

Headquartered in Somerset N.J., the Post-Finasteride Syndrome Foundation was established in July 2012 as a 501(c)(3) organization, with private grants from families in the U.S. and abroad. Tax-deductible financial donations to the nonprofit organization can be made via PFSFoundation.org, which also houses patient-recruitment information on active clinical studies, published research, research goals, and media reports about PFS. In July 2015, the PFS Foundation partnered with the Southwest Brain Bank in the Department of Psychiatry at the Texas Tech University El Paso. The mission of the brain bank is to function as a donation site for post-mortem human brain and spinal cord tissue of PFS patients, and study that matter in order to better understand the pathology and etiology of the condition.

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