Fifty-eight 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, according to a new survey from CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.
The survey also found that 4.1% of women and 2.5% of men used online chat groups to learn about health topics in the past year. Meanwhile, 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, according to the survey.
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.
Source: CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, "Health Information Technology Use Among Men and Women Aged 18-64: early Release of Estimates From the National Health Interview Survey, January-June 2009