2/3/2013
More than seven in 10 online adults (72%) have looked online for health information in the past year, according to the Pew Research Center. Among these, 59% have tried to self-diagnose their own or another person’s medical condition by researching symptoms online.
Women are more likely than men to try to self-diagnose via the Internet. Adults under age 50 are more likely than those age 50 and older to use the Internet for self-diagnosis, but among those who do so, adults 50 and older are more likely than those under 50 to follow up with a doctor.
More than three quarters of people looking up health information online (77%) start with search engines. Some 13% start with health-specific websites such as WebMD. When asked about their most recent online search for health information, 39% of consumers say they looked for information for themselves, 39% looked for information for someone else, and 15% looked for both themselves and someone else.
More than a third of Black (34%) and Hispanic (35%) Internet users have looked for information on weight loss or management in the past year, compared to 23% of non-Hispanic Whites. Nearly six in 10 White Internet users have looked for information on a specific medical problem, compared to 47% of Black and 48% of Hispanic Internet users who have done so.
Three in 10 mobile phone owners (31%) look for health information online using their phones. Blacks (35%) and Hispanics (38%) are more likely than Whites (27%) to use their cell phones to search for health information. More than half of smartphone owners (52%) use their smartphones to look for health information online, compared to 6% of feature phone owners.
Insured adults are more likely than those without health insurance to participate in online health-related activities such as reading about someone else’s experiences with medical issues, getting email alerts about health concerns, or downloading medical forms.
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