Majority of people are 'cyberchondriacs'

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ROCHESTER, N.Y., Sept. 18 (UPI) -- Sixty percent of U.S. adults -- people the Harris Poll dubbed "cyberchondriacs" -- say they went online recently to check for information on health issues.

The Harris Poll of 1,019 U.S. adults indicates the proportion of people who report that they "often" search the Internet for information about health topics has increased to 39 percent, up from 22 percent in 2009 and 32 percent in 2010.

The survey also indicates 69 percent of the cyberchondriacs used search engines in the past month to search for health information and 62 percent used medical Web sites. Ninety percent say their searches were very or somewhat successful -- up from 83 percent in 2009 and 86 percent in 2010.

Fifty-seven percent report they discussed information obtained on the Internet with their doctors -- up from 44 percent and 53 percent in the last two years.

The telephone survey was conducted Aug. 9-15 by Harris Interactive. No margin of error was provided.