Impact of Age on Online Healthcare Information Search:A Study on Indian Patients

Availability of healthcare information on internet has made it possible for patients or their relatives to search for such information. Considering the delicate nature of such an information as well as its great need felt by the society it is important to know who are these people who actively search for online healthcare information and also those who are unable to do so. This study was undertaken to find answers to one such question - impact of the age factor. The objective of the study is to measure the differences in perception of patients in three exclusive age-groups regarding the impact, merits and demerits of DTC promotion through online-health related websites. In all 754 respondents participated in the survey of which 440 patients were not sufficiently conversant with internet technology and hence were screened out in the first phase. The final survey sample, therefore comprised of 314 patients. One-way ANOVA has been used to measure the difference in perception across three age-groups. The result shows that age is a critical determinant in shaping perceptions of patients regarding the impact, merits and demerits of DTC promotion through online-health related websites. out of 43 select variables the age-based differences are significant in 39 cases; appreciably high in 3 cases and substantially high in 19 cases.