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Senior Research Fellow for Online Health
Pew Internet & American Life Project
Washington, DC

Adjunct Associate Professor of Consumer Health Informatics
School of Health Information Sciences, University of Texas Health Science Center
Houston, TX

Senior Associate
Center for Clinical Computing
Boston, MA

Editor & Publisher
The Ferguson Report: The Newsletter of Online Health (www.fergusonreport.com)
Austin, TX

Contact information:
Email: doctom@doctom.com
Web: www.fergusonreport.com
Phone: 512.474.1141
Fax: 512.474.8444
Mailing address: P.O.Box 50540, Austin TX 78763

1. More Internet users (55%) have used the net to find health information than have used it to go shopping, look up stock quotes, or check sports scores.
2. Slightly more than half of online health seekers (54% vs. 43%) said that the information they were seeking was for someone else--most commonly, their child, family member, or friend.
3. Of those who have turned to the Net for health information, 92 percent say the information they found during their last online search was useful--and 81 percent said they learned something new.
4. More than four in ten health seekers (41 percent) say that the material they found during their last online search affected their decisions about whether they should go to the doctor, how to treat an illness, or how to question their physician.
5. Top Three Reasons health seekers say they like the Internet:
   • I can get health info when it is convenient. (93%)
   • The Net provides more information than other sources. (83%)
   • I can search the Net anonymously. (80%)
6. Unlike other uses of the Net (e.g., online auctions or online banking) the "digital divide" has little or no effect on health seeking behavior. Use of the Net for health purposes is consistent across all income and racial groupings studied.
7. Forty-eight percent of all Internet users who have gone online for medical information say the advice they found on the Web has improved the way they take care of themselves. And 55 percent report that the Internet improves the way they get health care information.
8. Forty-seven percent of those who sought information on their own illness said that the materials they found affected their decisions about medical treatments and care.
9. Eight times as many searchers looked for info on physical illness than on fitness or nutrition. And 3-1/2 times as many looked for info on physical illnesses than on mental illnesses.
10. Sixty percent of Internet users think that putting medical records online is a bad thing, even if they are on a secure, password-protected site, because they would worry about other people seeing their personal information.

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