From: drarwingnuttephd@gmail.com   
      
   "Digital divide" could sideline older Americans when it comes to health   
   information on the internet   
      
   Last updated: 15 November 2014 at 12am PST   
      
      
   Providing health information on the internet may not be the "cure all" that it   
   is hoped to be. It could sideline especially those Americans older than 65   
   years old who are not well versed in understanding health matters, and who do   
   not use the web    
   regularly. So says Helen Levy of the University of Michigan in the US, who led   
   the first-ever study to show that elderly people's knowledge of health   
   matters, so-called health literacy, also predicts how and if they use the   
   internet. The findings¹ appear    
   in the Journal of General Internal Medicine², published by Springer.   
      
   Substantial resources and attention have been invested recently in health   
   information technology in the US, for example by providing electronic medical   
   records online. It is unclear, however, whether elderly patients are willing   
   and able to put this    
   innovation to full use. Levy's team therefore sought to establish if there is   
   a link between people's levels of health literacy and their use of the   
   internet to find information.   
      
   Data was analyzed from the 2009 and 2010 Health and Retirement Study, a   
   nationally representative survey of more than 20,000 Americans 65 years and   
   older. Approximately 1,400 of the participants were queried about how often   
   they used the internet for    
   whatever purpose and, in particular, how often they searched for health and   
   medical information. Their health literacy was assessed using the revised   
   Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine questionnaire. They also rated   
   how confident they felt    
   about filling out medical forms.   
      
   The analysis revealed that the internet was a port of call to gain health   
   information for 31.9 percent of the elderly participants who were well versed   
   in health matters, while only 9.7 percent of those with low health literacy   
   used it. Elderly Americans    
   with low health literacy are less likely to use the internet at all. If   
   members of this group do surf the web, it is generally not to search for   
   medical or health information. Health literacy was therefore found to be a   
   significant predictor of what    
   people do once they are online.   
      
   The analysis also showed that a person's level of health literacy is a more   
   important predictor of whether he or she will use the internet to get medical   
   or health information rather than his or her cognitive functioning. Levy   
   therefore suggests that    
   interventions specifically targeting health literacy among older adults may   
   help prevent a widening of the "digital divide" as patients are increasingly   
   expected to obtain medical information online.   
      
   "Health information technology, like any innovation in health care, offers   
   both the promise of significant benefits and the risk that these benefits will   
   not be shared equally," warns Levy. "Low health literacy may attenuate the   
   effectiveness of web-   
   based interventions to improve the health of vulnerable populations."   
      
   Adapted by MNT from original media release   
      
   References   
   Additional information   
   Citations   
   1. Levy, H., Janke, A.T., Langa, K.M. (2014). Health Literacy and the Digital   
   Divide Among Older Americans, Journal of General Internal Medicine. DOI   
   10.1007/s11606-014-3069-5   
      
   2. The Journal of General Internal Medicine is the official journal of the   
   Society of General Internal Medicine.   
      
   Springer   
      
      
   http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/285369.php?tw   
      
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