Article
News: Web is fastest-growing source of medical info for patients, report says
More and more Americans are turning to sources other than their doctors for medical information, according to a recently released report. The web is patients' fastest-growing source of medical information.
More Americans turned to sources other than their doctor for personal medical information in 2007, according to a national study released by the Center for Studying Health System Change. About 56 percent of American adults (more than 122 million people) looked elsewhere for information, an increase from 38 percent (72 million people) in 2001. Use of all information sources rose, but the proportion of Americans using the internet as an information source grew most rapidly, doubling from 16 percent in 2001 to 32 percent in 2007, according to HSC's 2007 Health Tracking Household Survey, which polled 18,000 people, with a 43 percent response rate.
