Almost a quarter of online health seekers have clicked on pharma ads

Almost a quarter of online health seekers have clicked on pharma ads

More than 78% of Americans turn to the Internet to gather health information, and 45.2% say it's the primary source of information they collect for their household, according to a new Burst Media study. Although the study showed that only 16.5% of people say they go to the pharma sites for information, 23.5% percent of respondents have clicked on Web ads for prescription or OTC products. At 27.2%, those 55 or older were slightly more likely to click on those ads. More than 54.2% of respondents use the Internet to gather information about specific illnesses' symptoms, 51% use it to find information about treatments for a specific illness, and 38.6%, to find information about specific drugs or remedies. Also, as other studies have shown, women, especially those between 25 and 34, are the most-active online health seekers, with 90.1% of this group searching for health info online.