No Significant Change in the Number of "Cyberchondriacs" – Those Who Go Online for Health Care Information

ROCHESTER, N.Y.—April 12, 2004—For the second year in a row, Harris Interactive^® finds no significant change in the numbers of adults who have ever been online to look for health information. In our latest survey on this topic, we find that 74% of all those online have looked online for health information at some time. These "cyberchondriacs" are now 51% of all adults or some 111 million people.

However, many of these people are "infrequent cyberchondriacs"; a third of them "hardly ever" go online for health information, as compared with the 60% of cyberchondriacs (i.e., 67 million adults) who have been online for health care information in the previous month.

These are some of the results of a Harris Interactive survey of 1,020 adults nationwide who were surveyed by telephone between February 9 and 16, 2004.

When the percentages are used to calculate actual numbers of people, our data show the numbers of cyberchondriacs rising from 54 million in 1998, to 97 million in 2001, 109 million a year ago and 111 million now. In other words, the number of cyberchondriacs rose sharply until 2001 but has increased much more slowly because of the modest growth of the online population.

The main reason that the growth of cyberchondriacs slowed was that Internet penetration slowed. Since 1998, the proportion of all those online who use the Internet to look for health information has remained relatively stable at between 71% and 80%.

Some cyberchondriacs go online for health information a lot; others use it only very occasionally. While 60% of cyberchondriacs (31% of the public) say they have gone online for health information in the previous month, a third of them say they "hardly ever" do so.

Among the 111 million cyberchondriacs, there is a hard-core minority of very frequent users: 15% of cyberchondriacs (8% of the general public) report going online for health information ten or more times in the previous month.

When people use the Internet to look for health care information, they are more likely to use a portal or search engine (51%) that can search many different sites rather than go directly to a health-specific site (23%) or another specific site with a health care section (14%). These proportions have not changed much since our previous surveys over the last three years.

To access a downloadable PDF of this Harris Interactive Health Care News with complete data tables, please visit http://www.harrisinteractive.com/news/newsletters_healthcare.asp where previous issues of Health Care News are archived.

The Harris Poll^® was conducted by telephone within the United States between February 9 and 16, 2004 among a nationwide cross-section of 1,020 adults (ages 18+). Figures for age, sex, race, education, number of adults and number of voice/telephone lines in the household were weighted where necessary to align them with their actual proportions in the population.

In theory, with a probability sample of this size, one can say with 95 percent certainty that the results have a statistical precision of ±3 percentage points of what they would be if the entire adult population had been polled with complete accuracy. Unfortunately, there are several other possible sources of error in all polls or surveys that are probably more serious than theoretical calculations of sampling error. They include refusals to be interviewed (non-response), question wording and question order, interviewer bias, weighting by demographic control data and screening (e.g., for likely voters). It is impossible to quantify the errors that may result from these factors.

Harris Interactive (www.harrisinteractive.com) is a worldwide market research and consulting firm best known for The Harris Poll^®, and for pioneering the Internet method to conduct scientifically accurate market research. Headquartered in Rochester, New York, Harris Interactive combines proprietary methodologies and technology with expertise in predictive, custom and strategic research. The Company conducts international research from its U.S. offices and through wholly owned subsidiaries—London-based HI Europe (www.hieurope.com), Paris-based Novatris and Tokyo-based Harris Interactive Japan—as well as through the Harris Interactive Global Network of independent market- and opinion-research firms. EOE M/F/D/V

To become a member of the Harris Poll Online^SM and be invited to participate in future online surveys, visit www.harrispollonline.com.

Bonnie Hughes
585-214-7541
bhughes@harrisinteractive.com

Nancy Wong
585-214-7316
nwong@harrisinteractive.com