Food safety, drug safety, and pregnancy information are among eight new topics included in our survey.

Health information remains one of the most important subjects that internet users research online. The Pew Internet Project and California HealthCare Foundation have added eight new topics to our national survey measuring internet users’ interest in health information:

• 29% of internet users look online for information about food safety or recalls.
• 24% of internet users look online for information about drug safety or recalls.
• 19% of internet users look online for information about pregnancy and childbirth.
• 17% of internet users look online for information about memory loss, dementia, or Alzheimer’s.
• 16% of internet users look online for information about medical test results.
• 14% of internet users look online for information about how to manage chronic pain.
• 12% of internet users look online for information about long-term care for an elderly or disabled person.
• 7% of internet users look online for information about end-of-life decisions.

Symptoms and treatments continue to dominate internet users’ health searches.

Six topics were repeated from previous surveys, in some cases adding to trends that date back to 2002:

• 66% of internet users look online for information about a specific disease or medical problem (perennially in the top spot).
• 56% of internet users look online for information about a certain medical treatment or procedure.
• 44% of internet users look online for information about doctors or other health professionals.
• 36% of internet users look online for information about hospitals or other medical facilities.
• 33% of internet users look online for information related to health insurance, including private insurance, Medicare or Medicaid.
• 22% of internet users look online for information about environmental health hazards.

Looking for health information is the third most popular online activity measured in our surveys.

Eight in ten internet users look online for health information, making it the third most popular online pursuit among all those tracked by the Pew Internet Project, following email and using a search engine.  Since one-quarter of adults do not go online, the percentage of health information seekers is 59% among the total U.S. adult population.

The survey finds that not only are some demographic groups more likely than others to have internet access, but these same groups are generally more likely to seek health information once online.

The most likely groups to look online for health information include:

• Adults who, in the past 12 months, have provided unpaid care to a parent, child, friend, or other loved one
• Women
• Whites
• Adults between the ages of 18-49
• Adults with at least some college education
• Adults living in higher-income households

By contrast, fewer than half of adults in the following groups in the U.S. look online for health information:

• African Americans
• Latinos
• Adults living with a disability
• Adults age 65 and older
• Adults with a high school education or less
• Adults living in low-income households ($30,000 or less annual income)

However, young people, Latinos, and African Americans are increasingly likely to use mobile devices to gather information, which could potentially shift the patterns among those groups when it comes to using health information resources.

This report is the result of collaboration between the Pew Internet Project and the California HealthCare Foundation.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project is an initiative of the Pew Research Center, a nonprofit “fact tank” that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. The Project is nonpartisan and takes no position on policy issues. Support is provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

The California HealthCare Foundation is an independent philanthropy committed to improving the way health care is delivered and financed in California.

All quantitative, numerical data is based on a September 2010 national telephone survey conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International (PSRAI).

PSRAI is an independent firm dedicated to high-quality research providing reliable, valid results for clients in the United States and around the world.

59% of all adults in the U.S. look for health information online.

Eight in ten internet users look online for health information, making it the third most popular online activity among all those included in the Pew Internet Project’s surveys.¹

Internet access drives information access.

Since one-quarter of adults do not go online, the percentage of health seekers is lower among the total population: 59% of adults in the U.S. look online for health information.

Women, non-Hispanic whites, younger adults, and those with higher levels of education and income are more likely than other demographic groups to gather health information online.

There are two forces at play in the data: access to the internet and interest in health information. For example, women and men are equally likely to have access to the internet, but women are more likely than men to report gathering health information online, which explains the gender gap in the chart below.

For the other groups, the rate of internet adoption combined with their level of interest in health information drives their numbers either up or down. This is particularly true when it comes to education: only 38% of adults with less than a high school education go online, compared with 93% of adults with a college degree. Once online, 62% of internet users who have not graduated from high school say they gather health information online, compared with 89% of internet users with a college degree. The result is a significant gap in information access: just one in four adults who lack high school diplomas gather health information online, compared with eight in ten college graduates.

Adults who, in the past 12 months, have provided unpaid care for a loved one are among the most likely people to have looked online for health information of all kinds (see table below). Caregivers are not only often in need of health information but have the means to obtain it online: eight in ten have access to the internet.

Another group with reason to seek health information online are people who faced a serious medical emergency or crisis in the past year, either their own or that of someone close them. Medical crises crop up in many people’s lives, across demographic groups, so there is little difference between the groups when it comes to internet access. The internet once again distinguishes itself for these users as a just-in-time information resource.²

Interestingly, a third group – people who have experienced any other significant change in their physical health in the past year, such as gaining or losing a lot of weight, becoming pregnant, or quitting smoking –  do not report a higher rate of health information seeking compared with other people.

As the Pew Internet Project and the California HealthCare Foundation have reported in the past, people who are living with chronic disease or disability are likely, if they have internet access, to be highly interested in online health information. For those two groups, it is their lack of access to the internet which holds them back from parity with people who report no chronic conditions.

The typical search for health information is on behalf of someone else.

Half of internet users (48%) who go online for health information say their last search was on behalf of another person, 36% say their last search was on behalf of themselves, and 11% say it was both for themselves and someone else. Thus, while eight in ten internet users go online for health information, the impact of their inquiries may be much broader.

Caregivers are the most likely group to say they were thinking of someone else during their last search: 53%, compared with 45% of internet users who are not currently caring for a loved one. Online parents with young children living at home are another group likely to say their last health information query was on behalf of someone else: 56%, compared with 43% of internet users who do not have children under 18 living at home.

Internet users ages 30-49 are the most likely age group to be focused on other people, which is not surprising since two-thirds of this group have young children living at home and may also be looking for information on behalf of aging relatives. Fifty-five percent of internet users in their 30s and 40s say their last search was on someone else’s behalf, compared with 42% of internet users ages 18-29, 46% of internet users ages 50-64, and 36% of internet users ages 65 and older.

Who gathers health information online?

Health information gathering online has been consistently popular over the last decade. Eight in ten internet users looked online for health information in 2002 and the same proportion do so today. What has changed is who has access to the internet.  With the exception of adults age 70 and older and those with less than a high school education, internet use has shifted from being exceptional to being commonplace.  And the Pew Internet Project’s consistent finding is that if someone is online, they are in the game when it comes to all kinds of online activities, including health information seeking. What follows are thumbnail sketches of notable groups of health information seekers.

Women

Men and women are equally likely to have internet access: 73% of men and 75% of women go online. However, in a familiar pattern, women continue to pull ahead when it comes to pursuing health information online:³ 86% of online women do so, compared with 73% of online men.

Online women significantly outpace online men in their pursuit of information about specific diseases or medical problems, certain treatments or procedures, doctors or other health professionals, hospitals or other medical facilities, food safety or recalls, drug safety or recalls, and pregnancy and childbirth.

Not a single topic included in the survey attracts more attention from men than from women.

Caregivers

The word “caregivers” is used throughout this report to refer to people who, in the past 12 months, have provided unpaid care to a parent, child, friend, or other loved one. Unpaid care for an adult may include help with personal needs or household chores, managing finances, arranging for outside services, or visiting regularly to see how they are doing. Unpaid care to a child includes care for an ongoing or serious short-term condition, emotional or behavioral problems, or developmental problems.

Seventy-nine percent of caregivers have access to the internet. Of those, 88% look online for health information.

Caregivers distinguish themselves in this study as people focused on health information. They outpace other internet users when it comes to researching every single health topic included in the survey, often by double-digit margins.

A report coming out later this spring will profile caregivers in greater detail.

College-educated adults

Fully 91% of college graduates in the U.S. have internet access, compared with 64% of adults with a high school diploma. Statistical analysis by the Pew Internet Project has shown that education is one of the strongest predictors of whether someone has access to the internet.⁴ Health outcomes are also closely tied to education levels. The Centers for Disease Control reports that people who have not completed high school are at increased risk for unhealthy behaviors and death.⁵

Differences among adults with various levels of education are echoed in health information gathering online: 89% of internet users with a college degree do so, compared with 70% of internet users with a high school degree. The numbers drop even further when looking at adults who have less than a high school education – just 38% go online and, of those, 62% say they gather health information online.  Thus there is a magnifying effect where online health information seeking is concerned; not only are some groups more likely to have internet access, but those same groups are generally more likely to seek health information once online.

College graduates outpace high school graduates by 20+ points on a majority of health topics included in the survey. There are exceptions, however.  Information about pregnancy and childbirth attracts equal levels of interest from internet users at all education levels, as does information about end-of-life decisions.

Higher-income adults

Income is another strong predictor of internet access: 95% of adults who live in households with $75,000 or more in annual income go online, compared with 57% of adults who live in households with $30,000 or less in annual income. Higher-income adults are also more likely than lower-income groups to have the latest gadgets and to use them to gather information of all kinds.⁶

Again, the disparity is repeated in the two groups’ likelihood to look online for health information: once online, 87% of upper-income internet users do so, compared with 72% of internet users living in lower-income households.

This finding is echoed in international research: the Bupa Health Pulse 2010 finds that higher levels of income and education are associated with a greater likelihood to have internet access and to go online for health information among people living in Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Russia, Spain, the United Kingdom and the U.S.⁷

Adults living with chronic conditions

Nearly half of U.S. adults live with a chronic disease such as high blood pressure or diabetes.⁸ The current survey asked about five major diseases – high blood pressure, heart conditions, lung conditions, diabetes, and cancer – plus a catch-all question to capture any chronic conditions not included in the list.

The Pew Internet Project and California HealthCare Foundation have previously found that people living with chronic conditions such as diabetes or high blood pressure are significantly less likely to have internet access. However, once online, they are just as likely as everyone else to look for health information.⁹

That pattern is repeated in the current survey: 64% of adults living with at least one chronic condition have internet access, compared with 81% of adults who report no chronic conditions. Yet once online, 83% of internet users living with chronic conditions say they look online for health information, compared with 77% of internet users living with no such conditions.

Indeed, internet users living with chronic conditions are keen to gather health information online, particularly about specific diseases, treatments, health insurance, and drug safety or recalls. They outpace or match other internet users on nearly every topic. The one exception is information about pregnancy and childbirth, which is more popular among people not living with any of the conditions named in the survey.

A report coming out later this spring will profile people living with chronic conditions in greater detail.

Adults living with disabilities

This survey also included a series of questions about physical and mental abilities:

• 15% of American adults say they have serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs.
• 11% of American adults say that, because of a physical, mental, or emotional condition, they have serious difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions.
• 9% of American adults say they have serious difficulty hearing.
• 8% of American adults say that, because of a physical, mental, or emotional condition, they have difficulty doing errands alone such as visiting a doctor’s office or shopping.
• 7% of American adults say they are blind or have serious difficulty seeing, even when wearing glasses.
• 3% of American adults say they have trouble dressing or bathing.

People who answer “yes” to any one of the above questions are categorized as living with a disability.

In addition, 2% of American adults say they have a disability or illness that makes it harder or impossible for them to use the internet.

Fifty-four percent of adults living with a disability go online, compared with 81% of adults who report none of the disabilities listed.¹⁰  Once online, the two groups are equally likely to use the internet to gather health information: 78% of internet users living with disability do so, compared with 80% of internet users with no disabilities.

Internet users living with disabilities are just as likely as other internet users to research most health topics included in the survey, with the exception of information about doctors or other health professionals and information about pregnancy and childbirth. Both of those topics are more popular among internet users who report no disabilities.

Adults who faced a recent medical crisis, their own or a loved one’s

Twelve percent of American adults say they personally faced a serious medical emergency or crisis in the past year. One in four American adults (27%) says someone close to them faced such an emergency. There is no statistical difference in internet adoption rates between those who experienced a medical crisis, their own or someone else’s, and those who did not.

Serious medical emergencies cut across all demographic groups and seem to bump up interest in online health research. Fully 85% of internet users who experienced a recent medical crisis say they look online for any of the health topics named in the survey, compared with 77% of internet users who have not had that experience in the past year. In fact, those who went through a serious medical situation in the past year out-search their counterparts on every topic but one: pregnancy and childbirth.

Home broadband users

Two-thirds of adults in the U.S. have a home broadband connection. Younger adults, those with higher levels of education or income, and those living in urban or suburban areas are the most likely groups to have broadband access at home.

Previous research by the Pew Internet Project has found that 34% of Americans believe that lack of broadband is a “major disadvantage” when it comes to getting health information.¹¹

Eighty-two percent of home broadband users go online for health information, compared with 67% of internet users with dial-up access. Broadband users are more likely than dial-up users to look online for eight of the fifteen topics included in the survey.

Wireless internet users

Fifty-seven percent of adults in the U.S. go online using a mobile connection, such as a laptop with wireless access or a smartphone. Past Pew Internet research has consistently shown that these wireless internet users are more heavily engaged than other internet users in a wide range of online activities.¹²

Eighty-three percent of wireless internet users have looked online for health information, compared with 70% of internet users who do not use a mobile connection. Wireless users have wide-ranging interests: they significantly outpace their desktop-bound counterparts on thirteen of the fifteen topics included in the survey.  For example, 48% of wireless users look online for information about doctors or other health professionals, compared with 31% of internet users who do not have mobile access.

Cell phone owners

Eighty-five percent of American adults own a cell phone. Older adults are less likely than younger adults to use a mobile phone, but their numbers are still robust: 58% of adults ages 65 and older own one.

The Pew Internet Project has previously found that 17% of cell phone users have specifically used their phones to look up health or medical information.¹³

Disparities in access and in interest in health information once again combine to magnify differences among groups. The table below details the percentage of adults in each demographic group who have access to a cell phone and who use a cell phone to look for health information. For example, younger adults are much more likely than older adults to both have a cell phone. Younger cell phone users are also more likely than older ones to use their phones to look for health information. The result is significant gaps among demographic groups when it comes to on-the-phone health searches.

Search engines provide another perspective on mobile health information-gathering. Yahoo, for example, reports that “pregnancy,” “herpes,” and “STD” (sexually transmitted diseases) are among the top five searches performed on the mobile version of their site. These topics do not appear at all among the top five health searches for the non-mobile versions of either Yahoo or Google.¹⁴

Health topics are listed from the most commonly-searched to the least.

Not surprisingly, some questions are perennially at the top of the list among internet users looking online for health information: What do I have? How do I treat it? Who can help me figure this out? Where should I go to get a procedure done? The Pew Internet Project and California HealthCare Foundation added some new topics to the list this year such as food safety, drug safety, and how to manage chronic pain.  What follows are all the health topics included in the survey, from the most commonly-searched to the least.

Specific disease or medical problem

66% of internet users look online for information about a specific disease or medical problem.

Caregivers, women, internet users with a college degree, and internet users living with chronic conditions (particularly those with high blood pressure) lead all other groups in their interest in researching specific diseases or medical problems. Fully three-quarters of each of these groups look online for this type of health information.

This topic has been in the top spot since the Pew Internet Project began measuring internet users’ interest in health topics in 2002, when 63% of internet users said they looked online for information about a specific disease or medical problem.¹⁵

To give an idea of the types of information people are looking for online, we asked one of the top health websites, WebMD.com, for a list of the most commonly searched conditions in 2010:

1. Shingles
2. Gallbladder
3. Gout
4. Hemorrhoids
5. Lupus
6. Skin Problems
7. Allergies
8. Heart Disease
9. Diabetes
10. Sleep Disorders

Certain medical treatment or procedure

56% of internet users look online for information about a certain medical treatment or procedure.

Caregivers, women, those with a college degree, internet users living with chronic conditions (particularly those with lung conditions and high blood pressure), and parents with children living at home lead all other groups in their interest in researching certain medical treatments. Two-thirds of each of these groups looks online for this type of health information.

This topic has been the second-most popular topic since the Pew Internet Project began measuring internet users’ interest in health topics in 2002, when 47% of internet users said they looked online for information about a certain medical treatment or procedure.

The most commonly searched-for treatments on WebMD in 2010 were as follows:

1. Pain relievers
2. Anti-depressants
3. High blood pressure medication
4. Corticosteroids
5. Hysterectomy
6. Diabetes medication
7. ADHD medication
8. Antibiotics
9. Colonoscopy
10. Cholesterol-lowering medication

Doctors or other health professionals

44% of internet users look online for information about doctors or other health professionals.

Caregivers, women, those with a college degree, and parents with children living at home lead all other groups in looking online for information about doctors or other health professionals. Half of internet users in each of these groups look online for this type of health information.

Generation X internet users (ages 34-45) are the most likely age group to look online for information about health professionals: 51%, compared with 41% of internet users in their 20s and 42% of internet users between 56-64 years old, for example.

This is the second time Pew Internet has asked about this health topic and the results have not changed significantly over time: in 2008, 47% of internet users looked online for information about health professionals.¹⁶

Hospitals or other medical facilities

36% of internet users look online for information about hospitals or other medical facilities.

Caregivers, women, those with a college degree, those between 34-45 years old, and parents with children living at home lead all other groups in looking online for information about this topic. Four in ten internet users in each of these groups look online for information about hospitals or other medical facilities.

In 2008, the first time hospitals were singled out in a question, 38% of internet users said they looked online for this type of information, which is not significantly different from the current measurement.

Health insurance

33% of internet users look online for information related to health insurance, including private insurance, Medicare or Medicaid.

Caregivers, college graduates, and those living with chronic conditions (particularly high blood pressure) are among the likeliest groups to research this topic online. Four in ten internet users in each of these groups look online for information about health insurance, either public or private.

Pew Internet has asked this form of the health insurance question since 2008 and interest has held steady at one-third of the internet population. Prior surveys split the question – one for health insurance, the other for Medicare/Medicaid – but the results were essentially the same.¹⁷

Food safety

29% of internet users look online for information about food safety or recalls.

Caregivers, women, college graduates, those between 34-45 years old, and parents with children living at home lead all other groups in looking online for information about food safety. One-third of internet users in these groups have looked online for this type of information.

This is the first time Pew Internet has measured internet users’ interest in this topic.

Drug safety

24% of internet users look online for information about drug safety or recalls.

Caregivers, women, college graduates, and internet users living with chronic conditions (particularly those with lung conditions) lead all other groups in their interest in drug safety information. Age is also a significant predictor: 29% of Generation X internet users (34-45) say they have done this type of research online, compared with 21% of internet users ages 46-55 years old.

This is the first time Pew Internet has measured internet users’ interest in this topic.

Environmental health hazards

22% of internet users look online for information about environmental health hazards.

This topic is of equal interest across the board when it comes to men, women, age groups, and those with various levels of education. Caregivers and those living with chronic conditions (particularly lung conditions) are more likely than other groups to look online for information about environmental health hazards.

Environmental health hazards has risen a bit in popularity among internet users since 2002, when 17% of internet users said they had researched this topic online.

Pregnancy and childbirth

19% of internet users look online for information about pregnancy and childbirth.

As one would expect, gender and age are the significant predictors of interest in this topic. One in four female internet users (24%) has looked online for information about pregnancy and childbirth, compared with 13% of male internet users. Fully 31% of internet users between the ages of 18 and 33 have looked online for information about pregnancy and childbirth, compared with 25% of those between 34-45 years old, and just 5% of internet users age 46 or older. Current parents are also more likely than internet users who do not have children living at home to do this type of research (32%, compared with 12%).

This is the first time Pew Internet has measured internet users’ interest in this topic.

Memory loss, dementia, or Alzheimer’s

17% of internet users look online for information about memory loss, dementia, or Alzheimer’s.

Women, caregivers, and those living with chronic conditions (particularly lung conditions) outstrip other groups in their interest in this topic. One in four internet users in each of the groups named above use the internet to look for information about mental decline.

This is the first time Pew Internet has measured internet users’ interest in this topic.

Medical test results

16% of internet users look online for information about medical test results.

College graduates, caregivers, and those living with chronic conditions are the most likely groups to use the internet to get information about medical test results.

This is the first time Pew Internet has measured internet users’ interest in this topic.

How to manage chronic pain

14% of internet users look online for information about how to manage chronic pain.

Caregivers and those living with chronic conditions (particularly lung conditions) report the highest interest in this topic.

This is the first time Pew Internet has measured internet users’ interest in chronic pain management.

Long-term care

12% of internet users look online for information about long-term care for an elderly or disabled person.

Women, those living with chronic conditions, and older adults are more likely than other groups to say they have looked online for this type of information. Not surprisingly, one in five caregivers has researched long-term care for a loved one, marking the highest level of interest among any group.

This is the first time Pew Internet has measured internet users’ interest in this topic.

End-of-life decisions

7% of internet users look online for information about end-of-life decisions.

This topic garners essentially the same level of interest across all demographic groups, with a slight uptick among caregivers.

This is the first time Pew Internet has measured internet users’ interest in this topic.

Any other health issue

28% of internet users look online for information about any other health issue.

This question is one of the “catch-all” questions included in a survey which sometimes reveal lost opportunities. For example, fully 40% of caregivers say yes to this question, showing that the survey may only have scratched the surface of the health topics they spend their time on.

At-a-glance summaries of survey data

Questions

The topline is available to download as a PDF here. You can also explore the questions online on the report overview page.

This report is based on the findings of a daily tracking survey on Americans’ use of the Internet. The results in this report are based on data from telephone interviews conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International between August 9 and September 13, 2010, among a sample of 3,001 adults, age 18 and older.  Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish.  For results based on the total sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the error attributable to sampling is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.  For results based Internet users (n=2,065), the margin of sampling error is plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.  In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting telephone surveys may introduce some error or bias into the findings of opinion polls.

A combination of landline and cellular random digit dial (RDD) samples was used to represent all adults in the continental United States who have access to either a landline or cellular telephone. Both samples were provided by Survey Sampling International, LLC (SSI) according to PSRAI specifications.  The landline sample for this survey was designed to generalize to the U.S. adult population and to oversample African-Americans and Hispanics. To achieve these objectives in a cost effective manner, the design uses standard list-assisted random digit dialing (RDD) methodology, but telephone numbers are drawn disproportionately from telephone exchanges with higher than average density of African-American and/or Hispanic households. The cellular sample was not list-assisted, but was drawn through a systematic sampling from dedicated wireless 100-blocks and shared service 100-blocks with no directory-listed landline numbers.

New sample was released daily and was kept in the field for at least five days. The sample was released in replicates, which are representative subsamples of the larger population. This ensures that complete call procedures were followed for the entire sample.  At least 7 attempts were made to complete an interview at a sampled telephone number. The calls were staggered over times of day and days of the week to maximize the chances of making contact with a potential respondent. Each number received at least one daytime call in an attempt to find someone available. For the landline sample, half of the time interviewers first asked to speak with the youngest adult male currently at home. If no male was at home at the time of the call, interviewers asked to speak with the youngest adult female. For the other half of the contacts interviewers first asked to speak with the youngest adult female currently at home. If no female was available, interviewers asked to speak with the youngest adult male at home. For the cellular sample, interviews were conducted with the person who answered the phone. Interviewers verified that the person was an adult and in a safe place before administering the survey. Cellular sample respondents were offered a post-paid cash incentive for their participation. All interviews completed on any given day were considered to be the final sample for that day.

Disproportionate sampling and non-response in telephone interviews can produce biases in survey-derived estimates. The dataset was weighted in two stages.  The first stage of weighting corrected for the disproportionate landline sample design and also accounted for the overlapping landline and cellular sample frames as well as different probabilities of selection associated with the number of adults in the household. The second stage of weighting matched overall sample demographics to population parameters. The demographic weighting parameters are derived from a special analysis of the most recently available Census Bureau’s March 2009 Annual Social and Economic Supplement. This analysis produces population parameters for the demographic characteristics of adults age 18 or older. These parameters are then compared with the sample characteristics to construct sample weights. The weights are derived using an iterative technique that simultaneously balances the distribution of all weighting parameters.

Following is the full disposition of all sampled telephone numbers:

The disposition reports all of the sampled telephone numbers ever dialed from the original telephone number samples. The response rate estimates the fraction of all eligible respondents in the sample that were ultimately interviewed. At PSRAI it is calculated by taking the product of three component rates:

• Contact rate – the proportion of working numbers where a request for interview was made
• Cooperation rate – the proportion of contacted numbers where a consent for interview was at least initially obtained, versus those refused
• Completion rate – the proportion of initially cooperating and eligible interviews that were completed

Thus the response rate for the landline sample was 13.6 percent. The response rate for the cellular sample was 17.0 percent.