Searching for health information on the Internet – Results from the KomPaS study

Abstract

Searching for information about health is a key component of health behaviour. It is important because information generally has a significant impact on the outcome of decision-making processes, and this also applies to informed decisions about health-related issues. Representative results from the study ‘KomPaS: survey on communication and patient-safety’, which was conducted by the Robert Koch Institute, demonstrate that the Internet is the most popular choice for women and men who use media to search for health information. However, the results also demonstrate statistically significant differences by sex and socioeconomic status. People in the low socioeconomic status group search less frequently for health information on the Internet than people in the medium and high status groups. Furthermore, women up to the age of 65 use the Internet to search for information about health more frequently than men of the same age do. These differences reverse from the age of 65 onwards.