Canadians Avid Users of Health Related Websites

Vancouver, Nov. 22, 2000 - A substantial number of Canadian Internet users are frequent visitors to Websites offering health related information, new findings from Ipsos-Reid, Canada's leading public opinion and market research company, show.

The study of 1,066 Canadians with Internet access in September shows that 55% of them have visited a health-related Website in the past twelve months. Given that the Ipsos-Reid study also shows Canadians with Internet access has recently reached 70%, this translates into 39% of all Canadians visiting health websites.

There is also a substantial core of loyal visitors, with about 41% of Internet users visiting health related websites on a monthly basis, and a smaller group of core users (16%) who frequent them on a weekly basis.

Websites that offer information about diseases, prevention and cures are the most popular types of sites, visited by 69% of regular Canadian Internet users, followed in popularity by sites that offer information about nutrition (44%) and sites that offer information about prescription drugs (31%). Less popular are health Websites that offer exercise information (20%), and support group Websites (16%).

When asked about their favorite health-related website, answers were diverse, with no one particular site capturing more than 2% of mentions. The most popular websites are WebMD followed by the Mayo clinic's Website and Realage.com.

Despite this high level of interest, Canadian Internet users are quite skeptical of the quality of health information they are extracting from the `net. Slightly more than half of health Website visitors (54%) indicate that they have concerns about the credibility of health information available on the Internet, versus only 35% who do not have concerns. On the positive side, 58% agree that the Internet has made them more knowledgeable about their health. Only about one-in-four (27%) online Canadians find it difficult to access specific health information online. Encouragingly, only 19% agree that information they have found on the `net conflicts with what their doctor tells them. Only 9% agree that the information they have been able to find on the `net has resulted in them visiting their physician less often.

Physicians appear to be reluctant to encourage their patients to embrace the `net, as only 14% of health Website visitors indicate that their physician encourages them to use the Internet to search for medical information. A separate study of physicians conducted for the Medical Post this past summer indicated that 91% of doctors are suspicious about the quality of health information that is available on the net, and a further 24% actually believe the `net is doing more harm than good for their patients. (NOTE: N= 417 for the 91% and N=376 for the 24% figure).

Mossop added: "While the Internet is proving to be a valuable tool for Canadians who want to be knowledgeable about their health, it seems that Doctors are even more reluctant to endorse the net to their patients. This concern over the credibility of health information online suggests that the net has a long way to go in living up to its full potential in this area."

The "Canadian Inter@ctive Reid Report" is the largest, most comprehensive and authoritative source of its kind about quarterly Internet trends in Canada. The results are based on two separate data collection instruments. In the first, 1,000 web users from Angus Reid Group's Canadian Internet Panel are surveyed online. Panelists are chosen through random telephone surveys conducted on an ongoing basis across Canada. Results are complemented by a further 1,500 interviews via telephone with Canadian adults in order to verify results of the panel, and track issues among non-Internet users. The most recent quarterly results were collected between September 14th and 24th, 2000.

These data are statistically weighted to reflect the population proportions of regular online users by online expertise and regional distribution Our panelists represent approximately 12.4 million Canadian adult Internet users who are online for one hour a week or more (there are a total of 15.3 million adults who have Internet access).

With a national sample of 1,000 and 1,500 (for each component), one can say with 95% certainty that the overall results are within a maximum of 177 3.1 percentage points of what they would have been had the entire population of Canada's regular online users been surveyed. The margin of error will be larger for sub-groupings of the survey population.

Established in 1979, Ipsos-Reid is Canada's leading market research and public opinion company. Its is best known for the Angus Reid Express Poll, the most widely quoted source of public opinion in the country. Founded by Dr. Angus Reid, Ipsos-Reid has conducted extensive market and social research in 80 countries and in 40 languages, and serves clients around the world through more than 300-professionals and 1,000 data collection staff in 11 offices. The company is a member of the Paris-based Ipsos Group, ranked among the top ten research companies in the world.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Steve Mossop
Senior Vice-president
Ipsos-Reid
(604) 257-3200