Most U.S. residents do not examine source, date of health care data posted online

Three-fourths of U.S. adults who search for health care information online regularly do not examine the source and date to determine the quality of the data, according to a survey released on Sunday by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, Reuters/Boston Globe reports.

According to the survey, on an average day in August, about 10 million adults, or 7% of U.S. Internet users, searched online for information on diseases, treatments, exercise, nutrition, prescription drugs and alternative medicine.

Among respondents who searched for health care information online, 15% said that they examined the source and date of the data in all cases and 10% said that they examined the source and date in most cases, the survey found (Reuters/Boston Globe, 10/30).

Susannah Fox, who led the survey, said, "It's not that consumers aren't interested in this stuff.

They are actually finding they can't find it because Web sites aren't listing it" (Brand, Denver Rocky Mountain News, 10/30).

The survey also found that most respondents who searched for health care information online used search engines such as Yahoo! or Google (Reuters/Boston Globe, 10/30).

Fox said that most adults who search for health care information online "are not making health decisions necessarily independent of a doctor" but "are using the Internet to confirm decisions, to reassure themselves" (Denver Rocky Mountain News, 10/30).