News & Events > Using electronic media

A new survey from the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics in the US reports that 58% percent of women ages 18 to 64 reported using the Internet to look up health information in the past 12 months, compared with 43.4% of men ages 18 to 64.

The survey also found that 4.1% of women and 2.5% of men used online chat groups and that 5.6% of women and 4.2% of men reported that they communicated with a health care provider over e-mail in the past 12 months.

In addition, the survey found that 6.6% of women and 5.3% of men said they refilled a prescription online in the past year, while 3.5% of women and 1.8% of men reported using the Internet to schedule an appointment with a health care provider in the past 12 months.

Results are based on a survey of 7,192 adults ages 18 to 64 conducted between January and June 2009.

www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/healthinfo2009/healthinfo2009.pdf