Over a 2-year period, The Patient’s Guide compiled information concerning mobile engagement trends from over 12 million visitors. They were looking to see if there was a trend toward mobile computing for healthcare research versus traditional desktop computing, and how big it was. During this research, The Patient’s Guide discovered how the iPhone pretty much dominates in this arena.
According to the research, these are the top 10 devices used for finding medical information:
1. iPhone
2. iPad
3. iPod
4. Sony Xperia
5. Samsung Galaxy
6. HTC EVO
7. Motorola Dorid
8. Blackberry
9. HTC INcredible
10. T-Mobile MyTouch
I’m not surprised by these results at all. I mean, almost every health app I look at is available for the iPhone, many available for Android devices, and it’s really hit or miss for Blackberry or Windows’ devices. Not only did this study determine this top ten list, but also found the following interesting facts:
- 94% increase in consumer medical searches using iPhone in 2012 when compared to 2011
- An estimated 1.5 million searched for medical information using their iPhone in the last 12 months using Patient’s Guide websites alone
- iPhone captures 41% of total mobile medical traffic
- 20% male/80% female searching for medical information online
- 1 in 3 cell phone owners (31%) have used their phone to look for health information
information submitted by Brittney Roberts, Director of Marketing Communications at The Patient’s Guide
I found a lot of these findings fascinating, particularly that 80 percent of those searching for medical information online are females. It makes sense to me, at least from what I’ve been exposed to. I look at my husband and I. I’m always online, researching different ailments that I’m sure one of us has, and then there’s my husband, who I doubt has ever even been to WebMD. Perhaps women tend to worry more, or even just feel more of an obligation to search out medical information? Who knows. Either way, it’s an interesting finding.
And again, it’s amazing just how many people are using the iPhone. Personally, I don’t like the iPhone, but obviously, it’s very popular, especially among people wanting health information. I wonder why that is — any suggestions?
And finally, it’s crazy that a 1/3 of cell phone users have used their phone to look up health information. I’m not sure if that’s referring to those with smart phones, or just all cell phone users in general, but still, crazy. Though, part of me is surprised it isn’t more.
The news release about this suggests that there are number of different factors influencing these trends, such as “government regulations and insurance reimbursements, as well as the evolution of mobile computing devices such as the new iPad mini.” I definitely feel like this numbers are only going to continue to grow. mHealth just makes things so much more convinient in my opinion (for the most part, at least.)
The Patient’s Guide also created a neat infographic concerning the data found in their study:
To learn more about the study conducted by The Patient’s Guide, follow this link to the infographic/news release.
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