No Significant Change in the Number of 'Cyberchondriacs' - Those Who Go Online for Health Care Information
April 12 2004 - 11:47AM
PR Newswire (US)
No Significant Change in the Number of 'Cyberchondriacs' - Those
Who Go Online for Health Care Information ROCHESTER, N.Y., April 12
/PRNewswire/ -- For the second year in a row, Harris Interactive(R)
finds no significant change in the numbers of adults who have ever
been online to look for health information. In our latest survey on
this topic, we find that 74% of all those online have looked online
for health information at some time. These "cyberchondriacs" are
now 51% of all adults or some 111 million people. However, many of
these people are "infrequent cyberchondriacs"; a third of them
"hardly ever" go online for health information, as compared with
the 60% of cyberchondriacs (i.e., 67 million adults) who have been
online for health care information in the previous month. These are
some of the results of a Harris Interactive survey of 1,020 adults
nationwide who were surveyed by telephone between February 9 and
16, 2004. When the percentages are used to calculate actual numbers
of people, our data show the numbers of cyberchondriacs rising from
54 million in 1998, to 97 million in 2001, 109 million a year ago
and 111 million now. In other words, the number of cyberchondriacs
rose sharply until 2001 but has increased much more slowly because
of the modest growth of the online population. The main reason that
the growth of cyberchondriacs slowed was that Internet penetration
slowed. Since 1998, the proportion of all those online who use the
Internet to look for health information has remained relatively
stable at between 71% and 80%. TABLE 1 CYBERCHONDRIACS: TRENDS 1998
1999 2001 2002 2003 Feb. 2004 % % % % % % Percent of all adults who
are online* 38 46 63 66 67 69 Percent of all those online who have
ever looked for health information online 71 74 75 80 78 74 Percent
of all adults who have ever looked for health information online 27
34 47 53 52 51 Percent of all adults who have looked for health
information online in last month) N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 35 Numbers of
adults who have ever looked for health 54 69 97 110 109 111
information million million million million million million *
Includes those online from home, office, school, library or other
location Note: 2004 figures calculated based on number of U.S
adults online (146 million) which is based on U.S. Census estimate
of 218 million adults overall in the U.S. Frequency ofuse Some
cyberchondriacs go online for health information a lot; others use
it only very occasionally. While 60% of cyberchondriacs (31% of the
public) say they have gone online for health information in the
previous month, a third of them say they "hardly ever" do so. Among
the 111 million cyberchondriacs, there is a hard-core minority of
very frequent users: 15% of cyberchondriacs (8% of the general
public) report going online for health information ten or more
times in the previous month. TABLE 2 FREQUENCY OF ACCESSING HEALTH
CARE INFORMATION ONLINE: 1998-2004 "How often do you look for
information online about health topics - often, sometimes, hardly
ever or never?" Base: Have access to Internet 1998 1999 2001 2002
2003 Feb. 2004 % % % % % % Often 12 13 16 18 17 19 Sometimes 30 30
30 35 37 31 Hardly ever 29 31 30 27 23 24 Never 29 26 25 20 22 26
Total who have ever looked for health or medical information online
71 74 75 80 78 74 Note: Numbers may not add up due to rounding.
TABLE 3 NUMBER OF TIMES LOOKED FOR HEALTH INFORMATION ONLINE IN
LAST MONTH "About how many times have you looked for information
online about health topics in the last month?" Base: All
"cyberchondriacs" (who are 74% of those online and 51% of all
adults) Cyberchondriacs As % of As % of % All Those All Online
Adults Not once 21 (16) (11) 1 or 2 times 26 (19) (13) 3 - 5 times
14 (10) (7) 6 - 9 times 5 (4) (3) 10 or more times 15 (11) (8) Not
sure 19 Gone online for health information in the last month 60 %
(44%) (31%) How people use the Internet to look for health
information When people use the Internet to look for health care
information, they are more likely to use a portal or search engine
(51%) that can search many different sites rather than go directly
to a health-specific site (23%) or another specific site with a
health care section (14%). These proportions have not changed much
since our previous surveys over the last three years. TABLE 4 WHERE
PEOPLE GO TO LOOK FOR HEALTH TOPICS ONLINE "The last time you
looked for information online about a health topic where did you
FIRST goto get the information you were interested in? Did you
FIRST go to a ... ?" Base: All "cyberchondriacs" 2001 2002 2003
2004 % % % % Site that focuses only on health- related topics OR 24
26 20 23 A site that focuses on many subjects that may have a
section devoted to health issues, OR 16 12 17 14 A portal or search
engine which will allow you to search for health information across
many different sites 52 53 54 51 Not sure/refused 7 8 8 12 Note:
Numbers may not add up due to rounding. Downloadable PDFs of the
Harris Interactive Health Care News are available at
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/news/newsletters_healthcare.asp
Methodology The Harris Poll(R) was conducted by telephone within
the United States between February 9 and 16, 2004 among a
nationwide cross-section of 1,020 adults (ages 18+). Figures for
age, sex, race, education, number of adults and number of
voice/telephone lines in the household were weighted where
necessary to align them with their actual proportions in the
population. In theory, with a probability sample of this size, one
can say with 95 percent certainty that the results have a
statistical precision of plus or minus 3 percentage points of what
they would be if the entire adult population had been polled with
complete accuracy. Unfortunately, there are several other possible
sources of error in all polls or surveys that are probably more
serious than theoretical calculations of sampling error. They
include refusals to be interviewed (non-response), question wording
and question order, interviewer bias, weighting by demographic
control data and screening (e.g., for likely voters). It is
impossible to quantify the errors that may result from these
factors. These statements conform to the principles of disclosure
of the National Council on Public Polls. J20621 Q605, Q610, Q615
About Harris Interactive(R) Harris Interactive
(http://www.harrisinteractive.com/) is a worldwide market research
and consulting firm best known for The Harris Poll(R), and for
pioneering the Internet method to conduct scientifically accurate
market research. Headquartered in Rochester, New York, Harris
Interactive combines proprietary methodologies and technology with
expertise in predictive, custom and strategic research. The Company
conducts international research from its U.S. offices and through
wholly owned subsidiaries-London-based HI Europe
(http://www.hieurope.com/), Paris-based Novatris and Tokyo-based
Harris Interactive Japan-as well as through the Harris Interactive
Global Network of independent market- and opinion-research firms.
EOE M/F/D/V To become a member of the Harris Poll Online(SM) and be
invited to participate in future online surveys, visit
http://www.harrispollonline.com/. Harris Interactive Press
Contacts: Bonnie Hughes 585-214-7541 Nancy Wong 585-214-7316
DATASOURCE: Harris Interactive CONTACT: Bonnie Hughes,
+1-585-214-7541, , or Nancy Wong, +1-585-214-7316, , both of Harris
Interactive Web site: http://www.harrisinteractive.com/
http://www.hieurope.com/ http://www.harrispollonline.com/
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