A new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project finds that people are starting to use their cellphones to access health information.

It’s not likely that the provision of health care itself will suddenly become a mobile app, says Susannah Fox, associate director of the Pew project. “People really want to have contact with a health professional when they’re sick, and that’s not going to budge,” she tells the Health Blog.

But what is changing is the relationship with health information — everyday questions about symptoms, for example. Of the 85% of adults surveyed who use a cellphone, 17% report using their phone to look up health or medical info, and among 18-29-year-old cellphone users, the figure is 29%. (The survey, conducted in association with the California HealthCare foundation, covered 3,001 adults nationwide. Its margin of error is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points for all adults and 3 points for cell users.)

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