How Americans use the Internet to gather and share health information.

E-patients With a Disability or Chronic Disease

10/8/2007 | Report  | Susannah Fox

Just half of adults with chronic conditions use the internet; but once online, they are avid consumers of health information.
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Online Health Search 2006

10/29/2006 | Report  | Susannah Fox

Most internet users start at a search engine when looking for health information online. Very few check the source and date of the information they find.
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Finding Answers Online in Sickness and in Health

5/2/2006 | Report  | Mary Madden Susannah Fox

As more Americans come online, more rely on the internet for important health information. Fully 58% of those who found the internet to be crucial or important during a loved one’s recent health crisis say the single most important source of information was something they found online.
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Health Information Online

5/17/2005 | Report  | Susannah Fox

Eight in ten internet users have looked online for information on at least one of 16 health topics, with increased interest since 2002 in diet, fitness, drugs, health insurance, experimental treatments, and particular doctors and hospitals.
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Prescription Drugs Online

10/10/2004 | Report  | Susannah Fox

One in four Americans has used the internet to look for information about prescription drugs. Other topics covered: prescription drugs purchases online; drug-related spam.
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Wired for Health: How Californians Compare

12/14/2003 | Report  | Susannah Fox

Low-income Californians are more likely than other low-income Americans to go online and to search for health information. Health insurance, alternative medicine, and experimental treatments are particularly popular topics among Californian Internet users, whether they live in low- or high-income households.
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Internet Health Resources

7/16/2003 | Report  | Susannah Fox Deborah Fallows

Half of American adults have searched online for 16 health topics ranging from disease information to smoking cessation strategies. Health seekers go online to become informed, to prepare for appointments and surgery, to share information, and to seek and provide support.
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Vital Decisions: A Pew Internet Health Report

5/22/2002 | Report  | Susannah Fox Lee Rainie

Disease information, material about weight control, and facts about prescription drugs top the list of interests for health seekers. A typical health seeker searches for medical information only occasionally, and she relies on search engines and multiple sites.
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Exposed Online: The federal health privacy regulation and Internet user impacts

11/19/2001 | Report  | Angela Choy Zoe Hudson Joy Pritts Janlori Goldman Susannah Fox

This report is intended to give a general overview of how the federal health privacy regulation (“HIPAA”) may or may not apply to health Web sites.
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The Online Health Care Revolution

11/26/2000 | Report  | Susannah Fox Lee Rainie

A great many of the fifty-two million “health seekers” say the resources they find on the Web have a direct effect on the decisions they make about their health care and on their interactions with doctors.
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