Patient Internet use for health information at three urban primary care clinics.
OBJECTIVE
To survey a cross section of patients presenting to three urban primary care clinics to understand online health information search behaviors.


METHODS
At three urban primary care clinics affiliated with University at Buffalo, School of Medicine, 315 patients were interviewed. Interview questions included items on education, demographic information, employment, number of current prescriptions, insurance, online access, and specifics of health-searching behaviors. Chart review determined patient body mass index and number of chronic illnesses. Logistic regression and chi2 statistics were used to investigate the relationship between patient characteristics and the proportion of patients who use the Web for seeking health information.


RESULTS
Approximately 53% of respondents reported using Web or e-mail in the past year and 68% (33% of total sample) of those who accessed the Web used it to search for health information. The two most commonly cited search areas included information about a physical illness and nutrition/fitness. Education and race significantly predicted online health-seeking behavior when considering all factors in the study. Many patients (22%) relied on friends and family to navigate the Web, and 45% of patients reported that the information that they sought was unrelated to their clinical visit.


CONCLUSIONS
Current use of the Internet for health information was limited among more disadvantaged patient groups. More research is needed to examine the relationship between health-seeking behavior and patients' management of their health and well-being.
School of Nursing, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA.
Suzanne
S
Dickerson
Amber M
AM
Reinhart
Thomas Hugh
TH
Feeley
Rakesh
R
Bidani
Ellen
E
Rich
Vinod K
VK
Garg
Charles O
CO
Hershey
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007255:Information Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval; D020407:Internet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009518:New York; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D011320:Primary Health Care; D019037:Urban Health Services