Health-related use of the Internet in Germany 2007

Abstract

The European eHealth Trends project analyses the attitudes towards and usage of eHealth applications of European citizens in the time frame 2005–2007. In April/May 2007 the second series of representative stratified surveys with computer-based telephone interviews (CATI) (in Germany based on the German ADM Master Sample) were performed by a poll agency in seven European countries. Here we report the major results for the German population, were 1000 participants with an age between 15 and 80 years were interviewed. For the general use of the Internet for health purposes as well as the established eHealth Internet use (at least once a month) we report a significant increase (from 44.4% to 56.6% and from 22.5% to 32.0%). Further, the percentage of Germans who consider the Internet as an important medium for health purposes increased from 33.7% to 36.8%. In Bavaria, the percentage of established eHealth Internet users was lowest among the German states. The results of our eHealth Trends survey in Germany show a considerable increase of eHealth use within the last 18 months. German physicians need to be prepared for an increasing number of empowered patients, who have searched for information on their health problems in the Internet, but will also demand more enhanced services.