The fact that people are researching their medical conditions online is hardly surprising - what better space than a private source of information to explain something as intimate as the workings of your body. Despite the launching of Google Health earlier this year there still isn't a huge amount of information (that I could find) about the habits of people online in this area. The stats I did find are mighty interesting though - people seem to trust what they read online - check them out below!
From Pew Internet - The Engaged E-patient Population (August 2008)
- Between 75% and 80% of Internet users have looked online for health information.
- 78% of home broadband users look online for health information, compared with 70% of home dial-up users.
- 59% of Internet users with newly diagnosed conditions say that the information they found online led them to ask a doctor new questions or to get a second opinion.
- 48% of those who had not had a recent diagnosis or health crisis say the same.
- 57% of recently challenged or diagnosed e-patients say they felt eager to share their new health or medical knowledge with others, compared with only 45% of other e-patients.
- Only 3% of health seekers say they or someone they know has been seriously harmed by following the advice or information they found online.
- The population of e-patients may have stabilized at 75% to 80% of Internet users.
From HitWise Google Receives 68 Percent of U.S. Searches (May 2008)
For Category: Health and Medical (figures based on U.S. data)
- Percentage of category traffic from Google: 30.86%
- Percentage of category traffic from all search engines: 45.76%
And an awesome site that has nothing to do with online health - but is an animated way to view the health situation of countries worldwide - Gapminder. Enjoy!
P.S. Thanks Carlos for a useful link this week!
Muti
