80% Of Web Users Seek Health Information80% Of Web Users Seek Health Information

15 Healthy Mobile Apps

Another factor driving the numbers is education. According to the study only 38% of adults with less than a high school education go online, compared with 93% of adults with a college degree. Once online, 62% of Internet users who have not graduated from high school say they gather health information online, compared with 89% of Internet users with a college degree.

The disparity in education has contributed to a significant gap in information access: just one in four adults who lack high school diplomas gathers health information online, compared with eight in 10 college graduates, the study said.

The study also found that caregivers, women, whites, and adults living in higher-income households were more likely to look for health information online. By contrast, African Americans, Latinos, adults living with a disability, adults age 65 and older, and those living in households with $30,000 or less in annual income were less likely to search for health information online.

The study noted that young people, Latinos, and African Americans are increasingly likely to use mobile devices to gather information, which could potentially shift the patterns among those groups when it comes to using health information resources.

Additional findings were that symptoms and treatments continue to dominate Internet users' health searches. Six topics were repeated from previous surveys, in some cases adding to trends that date back to 2002. Among Internet users, the study found that:

-- 66% look online for information about a specific disease or medical problem (perennially in the top spot).

-- 56% look online for information about a certain medical treatment or procedure.

-- 44% look online for information about doctors or other health professionals.

-- 36% look online for information about hospitals or other medical facilities.

-- 33% look online for information related to health insurance, including private insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid.

-- 22% look online for information about environmental health hazards.