• by January 14, 2001

According to a new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, half the people who have used the Internet to get health and medical information say this information has improved the way they take care of themselves. 52 million American adults - "health seekers" - have sought health and medical information on the Web and a majority of them go online at least once a month to get health information.

As an advertiser to this market segment, the full report highlights significant issues, areas of concern and(intrinsically) marketing and merchandising opportunities!

Key findings about the Internet's role in Americans' medical decisions emerges from several surveys taken by the Pew Internet Project and released in a report entitled "The online health care revolution: How the Web helps Americans take better care of themselves." The report finds that women are much more likely than men to use the Internet to get health and medical information. Some other key findings from the Pew Internet Project report:

- 26% of health seekers have gone online to get information about mental illness

- 16% of health seekers have used the Internet to get information on a sensitive health subject that is hard to talk about

- 9% have exchanged emails with the doctor

- 54% of health seekers said they were looking on behalf of someone else

- 43% were looking for themselves

- 63% of health seekers oppose the idea of keeping medical records online

- 89% of health seekers say they are worried that Internet companies will collect and share data about Web sites visited

- 85% say they fear that insurance companies might change their coverage after finding out what online information they accessed

- 52% fret that their employers might learn what kind of medical material they accessed

These surveys also found that the search strategies of online health seekers are scattershot. and often got information from Web sites they had never heard of before they began the search. "Patients are action-oriented when they go online for health information and they will search for it any way they can," says Susannah Fox, Director of Research at the Pew Internet Project.

A delicate area to be sure, but a medium in which many clients may want visibility!

The findings come from several surveys by PewInternet.