The Pew Internet & American Life Project released a new report today on “The Social Life of Health Information" in conjunction with the California HealthCare Foundation. Many of the findings support previous research, but this report focuses more on Americans use of social media content for health information and highlights shifts from previous studies.

For example, in 2000, 46% of American adults had access to the internet, 5% of U.S. households had broadband connections, and 25% of American adults looked online for health information. Now, 75% of American adults go online, 57% of American households have broadband connections, and 61% of adults look online for health information. Further, many adults now have wireless access to the internet.

Asked to assess the quality of their online health experiences, 60% of e-patients (42% of all adults) say they or someone they know has been helped by following medical advice or health information found on the internet. This represents a significant increase from a 2006 Pew report that found 31% of e-patients (25% of all adults) said that. Just 3% of e-patients say they or someone they know has been harmed by following medical advice or health information found on the internet, a number that has remained stable since 2006.

The biggest topic on the rise include fitness, which jumped from 21% in 2002 to 38% in 2008 – an 88% growth, a more rapid increase than any other health topic covered in the survey. Other topics seeing growth included

• A specific disease or medical problem (49% of adults, up from 36%)
• A medical treatment or procedure (41% of adults, up from 27%)
• Prescription or over-the-counter drugs (33% of adults, up from 19%)
• Alternative treatments or medicines (26% of adults, up from 16%)
• Depression, anxiety, stress or mental health issues (21% of adults, up from 12%)
• Experimental treatments or medicines (15% of adults, up from 10%)

Download the full report.