Internet is first stop for consumers seeking health info

Internet is first stop for consumers seeking health info

 

The Internet is likely the first source of health information for U.S. consumers, which is a "tectonic shift" in the way patients consume health information, according to a new study. Although consumers report trusting information from their doctors most, they go online before visiting their doctor, according to the nationally representative study of 6,369 adults published in the December 26 Archives of Internal Medicine. Of the 63% of respondents saying they had used the Internet, 63.7% had gone online for health information. More than 62% of respondents said they trusted their doctors a lot for cancer information, compared to 23.9% for the Internet, and 49.5% said they'd want to go to their physician first for this information. However, only 10.9% who looked for cancer information said their physician was their first stop, compared to 48.6% who went online first, according to the study, which interviewed participants between October 2002 and April 2003. Go to Archives of Internal Medicine's Web site to read the study. 

 

http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/165/22/2618