If you are a woman, between the ages of 25–44, non-Hispanic white, employed, college educated, have an income at or above 300 percent of the federal poverty level and have private health insurance, you are more likely to use the Internet to search for health information, according to a recent survey.
These findings are based on data from the National Health Interview Survey, which was conducted in 2009 by the National Center for Health Statistics and authored by Robin A. Cohen and Patricia F. Adams.
Below are some statistics associated with the key findings of the survey:
- Women were more likely than men to have used the Internet for health information in the past 12 months for each age group except 65 and over. The percentage of adults who used the Internet for health information was highest among women aged 25-34 (65.8 percent) and lowest among adults aged 65 and over (under 25 percent).
- Use of the Internet by adults aged 18-64 for health information in the past 12 months was highest for adults who were non-Hispanic white (57.3 percent), followed by non-Hispanic Asian (47.8 percent), non-Hispanic black (38.3 percent) and Hispanic (28.8 percent).
- Among adults aged 25-64, 73.8 percent of people with at least a college degree used the Internet for health information in the past 12 months, while only 13.8 percent of those with less than a high school education did so.
- Adults aged 18-64 with incomes at or above 300 percent of the federal poverty level were more than twice as likely (63.4 percent) to have used the Internet for health information in the past 12 months compared with adults with incomes less than 100 percent of the FPL (28.9 percent).
- More than half (53.4 percent) of employed adults aged 18–64 used the Web for health information in the past 12 months compared with 40.9 percent of unemployed adults and 42.5 percent of adults not in the workforce.
- Among adults aged 18-64, 58.7 percent of those with private health insurance coverage used the Internet for health information in the past 12 months compared with 31.3 percent of those on Medicaid and 33.3 percent of those with no insurance coverage.
The authors note that although the Internet is increasingly becoming a health resource for adults in the U.S., security and confidentiality issues remain a concern when it comes to using the Web to make an appointment or to access their personal health records.
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