Abstract
BackgroundElectronic health (eHealth) services may help people obtain information and manage their health, and they are gaining attention as technology improves, and as traditional health services are placed under increasing strain. We present findings from the first representative, large-scale, population-based study of eHealth use in Norway.ObjectiveThe objectives of this study were to examine the use of eHealth in a population above 40 years of age, the predictors of eHealth use, and the predictors of taking action following the use of these eHealth services.MethodsData were collected through a questionnaire given to participants in the seventh survey of the Tromsø Study (Tromsø 7). The study involved a representative sample of the Norwegian population aged above 40 years old. A subset of the more extensive questionnaire was explicitly related to eHealth use. Data were analyzed using logistic regression analyses.ResultsApproximately half (52.7%; 9752/18,497) of the respondents had used some form of eHealth services during the last year. About 58% (5624/9698) of the participants who had responded to a question about taking some type of action based on information gained from using eHealth services had done so. The variables of being a woman (OR 1.58; 95% CI 1.47-1.68), of younger age (40-49 year age group: OR 4.28, 95% CI 3.63-5.04), with a higher education (tertiary/long: OR 3.77, 95% CI 3.40-4.19), and a higher income (>1 million kr [US $100,000]: OR 2.19, 95% CI 1.77-2.70) all positively predicted the use of eHealth services. Not living with a spouse (OR 1.14, 95% CI 1.04-1.25), having seen a general practitioner (GP) in the last year (OR 1.66, 95% CI 1.53-1.80), and having had some disease (such as heart disease, cancer, asthma, etc; OR 1.29, 95% CI 1.18-1.41) also positively predicted eHealth use. Self-rated health status did not significantly influence eHealth use. Taking some action following eHealth use was predicted with the variables of being a woman (OR 1.16, 95% CI 1.07-1.27), being younger (40-49 year age group: OR 1.72, 95% CI 1.34-2.22), having a higher education (tertiary/long: OR 1.65, 95% CI 1.42-1.92), having seen a GP in the last year (OR 1.58, 95% CI 1.41-1.77), and having ever had a disease (such as heart disease, cancer or asthma; OR 1.26, 95% CI 1.14-1.39).ConclusionseHealth appears to be an essential supplement to traditional health services for those aged above 40 years old, and especially so for the more resourceful. Being a woman, being younger, having higher education, having had a disease, and having seen a GP in the last year all positively predicted using the internet to get health information and taking some action based on this information.
Highlights
Online resources, including the use of search engines, social media, apps, and online video services, are becoming increasingly important for people in their everyday lives [1,2]
Conclusions: Electronic health (eHealth) appears to be an essential supplement to traditional health services for those aged above 40 years old, and especially so for the more resourceful
We found that women had 1.58 times the odds of using internet resources for health information when compared to men
Summary
Online resources, including the use of search engines, social media, apps, and online video services, are becoming increasingly important for people in their everyday lives [1,2]. In the European Union (EU) in 2012, 73% of the population were online [4], and in Norway, in 2013, this was the case with 85% of the population [5] When it comes to the specific use of social media, in 2016, a total of 68% of US adults used Facebook [6]. Electronic health (eHealth) is the use of Information and Communication Technology, such as the internet, to enable or improve health care [7]. While other eHealth activities, such as using health apps to make appointments and order prescriptions and using social media for communicating with health professionals, are becoming more popular, by far, the most frequent eHealth activity is finding information about health and illness on the internet [8,9,10,11,12]. We present findings from the first representative, large-scale, population-based study of eHealth use in Norway
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