Selected news stories about the Pew Internet Project and articles citing our data.
Millions find health tips a Web click away
10/30/2006 | 
Coverage
Chris Cobbs, Orlando Sentinel
'About 10 million Americans search the Internet each day for health information, making it as common a Web activity as paying bills and reading blogs, according to the study. And three-fourths of those surfing for health information were reassured that they could make an appropriate decision after their Web search, the study found. "There is a very strong sense of confidence among people who rely on search engines that they are doing the right thing about their health," said Susannah Fox, associate director of the Pew project and author of the study. "With the rise of broadband Web use, people make a lot of decisions with 'just-in-time information,' like what time a movie is playing," Fox said. "Searching for medical information is part of that." However, only a minority of those searching for help pay close attention to the source and age of the online information, which could pose problems because medical science changes so rapidly, Fox said. "These days, if medical information is a few years old, it could be outdated," she warned. "That applies, for example, in a case like hormone-replacement therapy, because the recommendations of doctors have changed in the last decade.
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