Eight in 10 Internet Users Go Online for Health Care Information

Eight in 10 Internet Users Go Online for Health Care Information
1 day ago

BRUCE DRAKE
Contributing Editor

Eighty percent of Americans who go online use the Internet to track down health care information, a percentage exceeded only by users of e-mail and search engines, according to a study conducted last August and September by the Pew Research Center and the California HealthCare Foundation.

Since not all Americans get on the Internet, Pew says that the 80 percent who use online to search health care subjects works out to 59 percent of the overall adult population.

A plurality of these users (48 percent) say they are looking up the information on behalf of someone else, 36 percent say they are getting it for themselves and 11 percent say they are searching on behalf of both themselves and another.

The top health care searches are to find information on a specific disease or medical problem, certain medical treatments or procedures, doctors or other health professionals, hospitals or other medical facilities and health insurance.

That's followed by searches for news on food and drug safety, or recalls.

The researchers asked WebMD, which says its health network gets about 80 million unique visitors a month, which medical conditions and treatments drew the largest numbers of searches.

For medical treatments and ailments, the most commonly searched were shingles, gallbladder problems, gout, hemorrhoids, lupus, skin problems, allergies, heart disease, diabetes and sleep disorders.

When it came to people seeking information on treatments, the most commonly-searched were pain relievers, anti-depressants, high blood pressure medication, steroids, hysterectomies, diabetes medication, attention deficit order medication, antibiotics, colonoscopies and cholesterol-lowering medication.

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http://www.politicsdaily.com/2011/02/01/eight-in-10-internet-users-go-online-for-health-care-information/