The Association Between Health Information Seeking on the Internet and Physician Visits (The Seventh Tromsø Study - Part 4): Population-Based Questionnaire Study

Journal of Medical Internet Research
Kassaye Yitbarek YigzawJohan Gustav Bellika

Abstract

The internet is being widely used for seeking health information. However, there is no consensus on the association between health information seeking on the internet and the use of health care services. We examined the association between health information seeking via the internet and physician visits. In addition, we investigated the association between online health information seeking and the decisions to visit and not to visit a physician. We used the cross-sectional electronic health (eHealth) data of 18,197 participants from the seventh survey of the Tromsø Study (Tromsø 7). The participants were aged ≥40 years and living in Tromsø, Norway. We used logistic regression models to examine the association between online health information seeking and physician visits, the decision to visit a physician, and the decision not to visit a physician, with adjustment for the demographic status, socioeconomic status, and health status of the participants. The use of Web search engines was associated with a physician visit. However, the association was moderated by age, and the OR decreased as age increased. The ORs for the use of Web search engines were 1.99 (95% CI 1.94-2.02) and 1.07 (95% CI 1.03-1.12) at ages 40 and 80 years, re...Continue Reading

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Citations

Mar 7, 2020·Journal of Medical Internet Research·Luis Marco-RuizJohan Gustav Bellika
Jul 17, 2020·Dermatologic Therapy·Yuanzhuo WangQiuning Sun
Apr 7, 2020·Journal of Medical Internet Research·Peivand Bastani, Mohammad Amin Bahrami
Oct 24, 2020·Geriatric Nursing·Sun Ju ChangHyunju Ryu
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Sep 24, 2021·Administration and Policy in Mental Health·Xin ZhaoStacy L Frazier
Nov 9, 2021·British Journal of Health Psychology·Maša Popovac, Rizwana Roomaney

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Software Mentioned

R
R Project for Statistical Computing

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