In a report issued yesterday, the Pew Internet & American Life project uncovered some more bad news for people living with chronic disease:
Not only do they often have complicated health issues, not easily solved by the addition of even the best, most reliable, medical advice. They are also disproportionately offline – lacking access to both the knowledge and support so many of us turn to the internet for.
The numbers are jarring. 81% of people with no chronic conditions are online vs. only 52% of people with two or more conditions.
The issue of lack of equitable access is made even more complex by changes in physician behavior. Doctors increasingly rely on the internet to supplement their patients’ knowledge and understanding. Last year, Manhattan Research reported that 58% of physicians recommend specific websites to their patients (not suprisingly, WebMD is at the top of their list).
There is some good news. Once people with chronic diseases do go online they are more likely to blog or participate in online discussions about health problems. They are gathering on big patient networking sites like PatientsLikeMe, HealthCentral, Inspire, CureTogether and Alliance Health Networks, and on small sites started by patients on networks like Ning and Wetpaint. They’re more active contributors in that health space – both about the personal issues associated with their condition and specific health problems.
People with chronic diseases are often more inspired than others by the information they found. The report includes verbatims like these: one person wrote, “[An] online support group helped me learn about the disease and provided comfort in knowing that my symptoms were not ‘just in my head,’ and helped me take steps to adjust to living with a chronic condition.” Another shared, “I live in a small town and it is helpful to be able to use the internet to find others that have the same condition as I do.”
Getting patients access to this kind of support can be life changing. The opportunity to do that can come from both sides of the equatation:
- More access: Through, for example, internet devices in waiting rooms
- More interest: A clearer picture for offline patients about what resources and tools they’ll find (specific to their disease state) online
