• by August 23, 2000

By Anya Khait

Millions of people use the Internet every day. Some just for email, others for news headlines, some even buy cars. Surprisingly enough, more than half also use it for health reasons.

According to the latest annual e-Health survey of more than 2,700 U.S. adults from Cyber Dialogue's Health Practice, 40.9 million U.S. adults, or 54% of the online adult population, currently use the Internet for healthcare.

Researchers discovered that 14.6 million adults are shopping online for health and beauty products, and 4.6 million have made a purchase in the category.

Additionally, Cyber Dialogue says, e-Health content contributes significantly to patient involvement in healthcare management: 25% of adults who visit disease sites have requested specific brand-name prescriptions from their doctors.

The study also found that consumers desire more online interaction with their doctors. According to the data, while only 3.7 million U.S. adults have e-mailed a doctor's office, 33.6 million more are interested in doing so.

Also, the study found that women's health is not the number one e-health content type among women. Female users of e-health community features are highly valuable but not nearly as numerous as commonly asserted. Women with high value for ad-revenue business models may not be the most profitable customers in the future, Cyber Dialogue suggests. "Women represent the single largest consumer force in e-health, but the industry has yet to capitalize on their true value," said Carolyn Gratzer, a senior analyst in the Health Practice.

- Anya Khait is a Staff Reporter at MediaPost. She can be reached at anya@mediapost.com