August 2006 – Health

This data set contains questions about how individuals use the internet to search for health information and resources. It was used in the reports “Online Health Search 2006” and “E-patients with a Disease or Chronic Disability”.

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

Nearly two in five adult internet users in the U.S. (39%) have gone online to look for information about a place to live, up from 34% in 2004 and 27% in 2000.

More than half of internet users have taken virtual tours -- nearly doubling the number who had done so in late 2004.

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.

On a typical day in August, 26 million Americans were using the internet for news or information about politics and the upcoming mid-term elections.