Online Health Information is Popular, But Often Unchecked

The number of people looking for health information online is constantly rising, but few will check where the information comes from, according to a new international survey.

Researchers at the London School of Economics (LSE; United Kingdom) and the private healthcare firm Bupa (London, United Kingdom) conducted the 2010 Health Pulse survey, which questioned more than 12,000 people in Australia, Brazil, Britain, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Russia, Spain, and the United States.

The results of the survey found that 81% of those with internet access use it to search for advice about health, medicines, or medical conditions. It also found that 68% of those who have access have used the internet to look for information about specific medicines and nearly 4 in 10 use it to look for other patients' experiences of a condition; 18% of respondents were using social networking sites to find out about healthcare issues. On average, Twitter was only used by 5% of respondents for this purpose.

The survey also found that of the 73% of Britons who say they go online for health information, 64% look for information about medicines and more than half of them, or 58%, use the information to self diagnose. Russians search for health advice the most on the internet (96%) followed by China (92%), India (90%), Mexico (89%) and Brazil (86%). The French search for health information the least (59%).

The researchers found, however, that only 25% of the people who search for information online say they check where their online advice has come from. With smartphones and tablet computers set to outsell personal computers by 2012, the researchers predicted that even more online options to access health information will be available, and warned that since so much online health content is unchecked, people would struggle to know what information to trust. The report is available online (please see Related Links below).

"Unreliable information about health online is a real worry. Understandably people feel the ‘fear factor' when searching the internet about health, as most symptoms can be a possible sign of serious illnesses such as cancer," said Annabel Bentley, MD, medical director of Bupa Health and Wellbeing. "Relying on dodgy information can easily lead to people taking risks with inappropriate tests and treatments, wasting money and causing unnecessary worry. Equally, people may check online and dismiss serious symptoms when they should get advice from a doctor."

Related Links:
London School of Economics
Bupa
LSE - Bupa Report