A new survey takes a look at old folks, health care and the Internet.
The poll found that 38 percent of older adults with access to the Internet find it very or somewhat difficult to judge whether health information online is reliable.
The survey of more than 1,000 adults ages 50 and over was conducted by the nonprofit Merck Institute of Aging & Health, funded by the Merck Company Foundation.
Sixty-nine percent of older adults said they use the Internet at least occasionally to look for health information. But 31 percent stated they found it somewhat or very difficult to know where to go to even find reliable sources of health information online.
Of those surveyed, 41 percent said they rarely, if ever, check the source of health information they find on the Web, and 45 percent rarely, if ever, check to see how current the information is that they are getting.
And almost one-fourth of respondents said it was very or somewhat difficult to know how to use the information they found to help make decisions about their health care.
« This new survey speaks to the volume of health information available on the web. Wading through it and knowing what’s credible can be very difficult, even for those who consider themselves well informed, » said Dr. Patricia Barry, executive director of the Merck Institute of Aging & Health.
Nearly 70 percent said they’re interested in learning more about how to use the Internet to find reliable health information.
In response to the findings, the Merck Institute of Aging & Health and the American Federation of Aging Research re-launched healthcompass.org, which is targeted at older adults and their caregivers. The site is a « how-to » program designed to help visitors better understand health information and research on aging.