Americans use net for health advice
19 May 2005
US web users are increasingly turning to the internet for information and advice on health.
The Pew Internet Project found that around half of all American adults (95 million) have searched for health information online.
Eight in ten internet users (79 per cent) said they have looked online for information on at least one of 16 health topics, with increased interest in diet, fitness, drugs, health insurance, experimental treatments, and particular doctors and hospitals.
The survey found that 59 per cent of female internet users polled had read up on nutrition information online, compared with 43 per cent of men, while 38 per cent of online parents had checked online for health insurance information, compared with 26 per cent without children.
Pew also discovered that 41 per cent of internet users with a broadband connection at home had looked up a particular doctor or hospital, compared with 19 per cent of internet users with a dial-up connection.
"Half of all American adults are now using the internet to gather advice about health and health care," said Susannah Fox, associate director at the Pew Internet Project. "Some people, especially those with high-speed internet access and many years of online experience, are also changing the contours of health searching."
She added: "These days, experienced internet users and those with broadband connections are just as likely to be looking up information about how to stay well, which doctors have the best surgical record, or what insurance pricing options are available. The internet's power users now look up every-day questions and do their health homework online."
Apply for your free web assessment - get a complete health check and optimisation action plan from Weboptimiser, the experts.
Related news
|
|
Leading brand search engine marketing since 1996
Founded in 1996 as an SEO company, Weboptimiser is today one of the Internet marketing sector's best-known and most respected search engine optimisation (SEO) and pay per click (PPC) search engine marketing companies.
With a unique portfolio of brand-friendly services, including usability, contextual advertising and web analytics, a pioneering methodology that covers all 4 stages of interaction between a web site and its visitors, we make our clients sites faster, smarter, busier and more profitable.
