Pew Internet & American Life Project

E-Patients: Chronically Ill Seek Health Information Online

by Susannah Fox, Associate Director, Pew Internet & American Life Project
August 26, 2008

The internet is changing the way Americans engage with information, whether they are choosing a president or making health care decisions. Two major drivers for this change are broadband adoption and personal motivation.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project estimates that between 75% and 80% of internet users have looked online for health information. Slightly different results exist for the size of the e-patient population depending on survey strategy, but these results are close enough to be confident about the right contours of this group. The estimate is also in line with Harris Interactive's latest data on health information seekers (81% of internet users; 66% of all adults).

The 75% reading is from an October-December 2007 national phone survey, which included 2,054 adults ages 18 and older, including 500 cell phone users. This survey asked: "Do you ever use the internet to look for health or medical information?"

In surveys conducted between 2003-2007 (and those planned in coming months), respondents were prompted with questions about specific health topics, such as diet, drugs or alternative treatments, yielding a consistently higher estimate (80%) for the percentage of internet users who seek health information online in 2003, 2004 and 2006.

This latest survey confirms that information gathering has become a habit for many Americans, particularly those in the 55% of households with broadband connections. Home broadband has now joined educational attainment, household income and age as the strongest predictors of internet activity. For example, 78% of home broadband users look online for health information, compared with 70% of home dial-up users. Home broadband users are twice as likely as home dial-up users to do health research on a typical day -- 12% vs. 6%.

High-speed, always-on connections enable frequent and in-depth information searches, which is particularly attractive if something important is at stake.

Internet users living with a disability or chronic disease are more likely than other internet users to be wide-ranging online health researchers and to report significant impacts from those searches. For example, 75% of e-patients with a chronic condition say their last health search affected a decision about how to treat an illness or condition, compared with 55% of other e-patients.

Read the full commentary at pewinternet.org.

This report originally appeared on iHealthBeat.