The Pew research group along with the California Health Care foundation published a survey recently on the topic of how consumers use the internet to research health information. A summary of the results are below:
66% of internet users look online for information about a specific disease or medical problem (perennially in the top spot).
56% of internet users look online for information about a certain medical treatment or procedure.
44% of internet users look online for information about doctors or other health professionals.
36% of internet users look online for information about hospitals or other medical facilities.
33% of internet users look online for information related to health insurance, including private
insurance, Medicare or Medicaid.
22% of internet users look online for information about environmental health hazard
Would you have guessed that looking for information about doctors would be number 3?
According to the report, caregivers, women, those with a college degree, and parents with children living at home lead all other groups in looking online for information about doctors or other health professionals. What is interesting is that Generation X internet users (ages 34-45) are the most likely age group to look online for information about health professionals: 51%, compared with 41% of internet users in their 20s and 42% of internet users between 56-64 years old.
For more information click here: http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Twitter-update-2010.aspx
Originally posted in “Patching the Boat” on February 17, 2011
