Americans turning to internet for health info

From January through June 2009, 51% of adults aged 18-64 had used the Internet to look up health information during the past 12 months. This information was collected from NCHS’ National Health Interview Survey, featured in a new web release. The data underscores the important role that IT is playing in the health field, as people search for answers quickly and exhaustively from the privacy of their own computer. Here’s the breakdown by sex:

Other data include the following:

Among adults aged 18-64, women were more likely than men to look up health information on the Internet (58.0% versus 43.4%) and were also more likely to use online chat groups to learn about health topics (4.1% versus 2.5%).

From January through June 2009, almost 5% of adults aged 18-64 had communicated with a health care provider by e-mail in the past 12 months.

During the first 6 months of 2009, 6% of adults aged 18-64 requested a refill of a prescription on the Internet, and almost 3% had made an appointment with a health care provider in the past 12 months using the Internet.

For the full report, visit http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/healthinfo2009/healthinfo2009.htm.