Baumann E, Czerwinski F, Reifegerste D. (2017). Gender-specific determinants and patters of online health information seeking: Results from a representative German health survey. Journal of Medical Internet Research. 19(4): e92. doi: 10.2196/jmir.6668
Researchers analyzed data from a national German health survey to understand the role of gender in health information seeking on the internet. Researchers focused on participants who reported using the internet (N=1219) and their responses to questions about health characteristics, frequency of their online health information seeking, sources of online health information used, and information topics sought. Older age, more frequent internet use, and higher socioeconomic status (SES) were related to higher likelihoods of seeking health information on the internet for the total sample. Additionally, older age was related to lower likelihoods of seeking health information on the internet for women specifically and higher SES was related to higher likelihoods of seeking health information on the internet for men specifically. Severely or chronically ill women were more likely to seek health information on the internet than women who were not ill or mildly ill. Chronic or severe illness and interest in health topics were related to higher frequency of health information seeking on the internet for the whole sample. Older age was also related to decreased frequency of seeking health information on the internet for women. Most of the sample (79.7%) reported seeking information about diseases and health care. Men were more likely than women to seek information about health care policy and systems and visit health insurance companies’ websites. Women were more likely than men to seek health information on health content websites and portals.