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Zoom on surveys
This website gives worldwide statistics about the
world's Internet usage. For example, one can see that while Internet
use increased by 380% between 2000 and 2009, only about 25.6% of the
worldwide population have access to the Internet.
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May 6th 2010 : Towards integrating the Internet better in the patient-physician relationship (in french)
This survey was conducted by the Conseil National de
l'Ordre des Médecins of France. They examined the use of the Internet
in France and its impact on the evolution of the patient-physician
relationship.
It shows that among other things, among the French people,
physicians are considered to be the most reliable source of health
information. However, 71% of them use the Internet to search for health
information. It also appears that among these 71%, 28% know that the sites they visit are certified, and among the 28%, 12% consult only certified websites .
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March 4th 2010: The
Pew
Internet & American Life Project
Personal reflections by Susannah Fox on an article published in New England Medicine on March 4, 2010.
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March 3rd 2010:
The
Pew
Internet & American Life Project
Despite the various health information available on
the Internet, patients are still more likely to believe their doctor
than the information online.
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September 2009: Israeli study on the relationship of physicians with e-patients
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| Summary: This survey, published in 2009 by the
Israel Medical Association Journal (IMAJ), explores the behavior of
primary care physicians and their patients who go online to improve
their knowledge about health care. As it seems that this practice is
well-accepted by these care providers globally, 81% of doctors responded
positively when health data from the Internet were presented by
patients. However, 4% said they were annoyed, 23% expressed discomfort
in such situation, and 13% found them irrelevant. |
June
2009:
The Pew
Internet & American Life Project
This survey was provided by The Pew Internet &
American Life Project in 2009, which analyzes the behavior of American
people when seeking health information on the Internet in 2009.
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Objectives:
This
study focuses on analyzing the behavior of Americans concerning their
search for health information on the Internet in 2009. Many points are
addressed in this study.
Conclusions :
The results show that 74% of American adults have Internet access (all
access points combined) and 61% of adults do health research on the
Internet.
It also shows that majority of people continue to seek health
information with health professionals (86%), but they complement the
information obtained through research on the Internet (57%).
Queries regarding well being (fitness, diet, sports, ...) have increased
by 88%, going from 21% in 2002 to 38% in 2009. Searches are also often
focused on finding specific symptoms (36%), medical treatment (27%),
alternative medicine (16%) or depression (12%).
In addition more than half of requests (52%) on medical information are for family members or for a friend. |
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November
2008: Microsoft study:
This study provides evidences that Internet search engines promote cyberchondria. Microsoft defines cyberchondria as a hightened level of anxiety due to health research on the Internet.
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August
2008: The Pew Internet & American Life
Project :
Discusses several statisticical data on health research
on the Internet. It shows that the Internet connection speed is a
promoting factor in Internet health research.
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2006-2007
: WHIST survey : Survey conducted by INSERM (In French)
This study shows the social stratification of Internet
use for research on medical and health information and its implications
on the management of their health and the care utilization.
The typical profile of a health information researcher, as observed by
other studies, is checked. The typical profile is that of a young or
middle aged woman, with a high level of education, employed, living
with a partner, having a great Internet experience and facing a
health problem.
The results also indicate differing use of the Internet with regards to
health between health professionals and the general public.
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2005-2007: European survey on health Internet
Survey conducted in collaboration with the
WHO. It was conducted by telephone by a Norwegian telemedicine
organization with a representative panel of people in seven European
countries. This survey was conducted twice with eighteen month intervals
to study the evolution of the usage of the Internet with regards to
health.
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Objective: Studying the development of
Internet use to seek health information in general, but also by country
of origin. The countries studied are:
Norway, Denmark and Germany for north and central Europe, Latvia and
Poland for Eastern Europe, Greece and Portugal in Southern Europe.
Results: In total, 7,934
interviews were conducted in 2005 and 7022 interviews in 2007. The
number of users of Internet for health purposes increased from 44% in
2005 to 54% in 2007 on all interviews. Looking only among Internet
users, 71% sought health information, and 83% did in 2007.
Conclusions: The use of the Internet for health purposes has increased in Europe. However this variation depends on the country. |
Canadian study on Internet utilization in 2005 and 2007
This survey examines the use of the Internet for general
personal, non-commercial use by individuals in Quebec in 2005. It
includes a section on the Internet for medical purposes.
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Objectives:
To study the use of the Internet in Canada, and the influence of this on the economy.
Results:
This study showed that age, sex, educational level, economic status, as
well as the economic level of a province plays an important role in
having access to the Internet.
Among all Internet users, 42% of men
and 56.4% of women have researched the Internet for health; totaling to
49.5% of the population surveyed. Women do more research related to
health than men. Among these investigations, the demand for diagnosis or
treatment of specific diseases is the most common type of query
(61.5%). Following this, there are the analysis of specific symptoms
(44.1%), questions on lifestyle (44%) and the effects of drugs (40.5%). |
There are no results about the use of Internet for
health searches in this report. The 2007 survey focuses on Internet use
in different regions of Quebec. The results presented do not show the
types of search queries conducted by e-patients. There are about two
years between the end of the study and publication of results.
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Harris Interactive Inc surveys :
Since 2002, Harris Interactive has defined cyberchondria in terms of the use of the Internet to search for health information.
Harris Interactive has conducted several surveys about the Internet to
understand the behavior of Internet users regarding Internet use and
search for medical information.
More studies are available here.
This general survey, conducted in 2009, presents the
patterns of Internet use in general and not only for health research by
adults. We learn here that the of 25-49 population spend between 17h
and 18h a week on the Internet.
This study shows that 2008 is the first year since 1998
when the numbers of health information seekers online did not increase.
Autors
: Tom Ferguson, MD (and the
e-patient schoolar working group)
The foreword was written by Rainie and Susannah Fox from
The Pew Internet & American Life Project. It presents the change in
the relationship between patients and their care providers with the
arrival of the 'e-patient' concept and increase of health care
information on the Internet.
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