Statistics: The Cyberchondriac: How Often Do U.S. Adults Search for Health Care Information Online?
Statistics: How Often Do U.S. Adults Search for Health Care Information Online?
Eighty-four percent of online U.S. adults and 71% of all U.S. adults have ever searched for health-related information online, according to a new survey by Harris Interactive.
Specifically, the survey found:
* The number of U.S. adults who have ever gone online to look for health or medical information has increased to approximately 160 million up from about 136 million last year. The reasons for this increase are that the total number of Internet users has increased somewhat and the percent of people online who have looked for information has increased as well. Cyberchondriacs now represent 84 percent of all online adults, up from last year’s 80 percent, and 72 percent in 2005;
* Two thirds (66%) of adults online say that they have looked for information about health topics often (26%) or sometimes (40%), an increase of five percentage points from 2006 (61%);
* The percentage of online adults who say they hardly ever or never search for health information has dropped to 34 percent, down from 39 percent last year and 43 percent in 2005;
* Interestingly, while three-quarters (74%) of those who have ever searched the Internet for health information have done so once or more often in the last month, this is down from 2005 when 85 percent said that they had gone online one or more times in the past month looking for health information;
* On average, a cyberchondriac searches the Internet almost six (5.7) times per month;
* As in the past a large majority of cyberchondriacs (88%) continues to report that they were successful in searching for health information online. However, the percentage of those who say they were "very successful" has declined from 46 percent two years ago and 42 percent last year to only 37 percent now; and
* Fully eighty-six percent of cyberchondriacs say that the health information they found online was reliable (26% "very reliable" and 60% "somewhat reliable"). Interestingly, this has declined slightly from 2005 when 90 percent felt this way. Of special note, the percentage of those who indicate that online medical information was "very reliable" has declined substantially from 37 percent in 2005 to the current 26 percent.
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