School of Humanities and Management, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, No. 260 Baichuan Street, Fuyang District, Hangzhou, 311402, China.
BMC Public Health. 2022 Aug 21;22(1):1591. doi: 10.1186/s12889-022-14017-8.
Health information seeking behavior (HISB) is a prevalent research topic. However, little is known about sociodemographic factors of HISB in China. This study aimed to examine the HISB of urban patients in China and identify predictors of source preference, online information seeking, and the timing of online seeking.
Based on the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS), this study conducted a cross-sectional survey of 1653 participants in different types of hospitals in 3 cities of different income levels within Zhejiang Province, China. Binary logistic regression analysis and multinomial logistic regression analysis were used to identify predictors of source preference, online medical information seeking, and the timing of online seeking for urban patients.
The offline was the primary source of medical information for 58.61% of adult urban patients, while 78.19% had ever sought medical information online. 36.81% of online medical information seekers sought information before the medical visit, 8.65% sought information after the visit, and 54.54% sought information before and after the visit. China's urban patients with higher education levels, higher income levels, young, active in internet use, and living in high-income cities were more likely to be active online medical information seekers (using the internet as the primary source) and online medical information seekers (having ever sought medical information online). Except for gender and age, most sociodemographic characteristics were not significantly associated with the timing of online medical information seeking.
Significant predictors of active online medical information seekers and online medical information seekers in China were almost the same. Regional economic development had a significant direct impact on medical information seekers. Most sociodemographic characteristics were not significantly associated with the timing of online medical information seeking. The findings of this study imply that China's health information technology industry has Chinese characteristics.
健康信息寻求行为（HISB）是一个热门的研究课题。然而，人们对中国的社会人口因素对 HISB 的影响知之甚少。本研究旨在调查中国城市患者的 HISB，并确定其信息源偏好、在线信息搜索以及在线搜索时间的预测因素。
本研究基于健康信息国家趋势调查（HINTS），对来自浙江省三个不同收入水平城市不同类型医院的 1653 名参与者进行了横断面调查。采用二项逻辑回归分析和多项逻辑回归分析，确定城市患者信息源偏好、在线医疗信息搜索以及在线搜索时间的预测因素。
58.61%的成年城市患者主要通过线下获取医疗信息，而 78.19%的患者曾在线搜索过医疗信息。36.81%的在线医疗信息搜索者在就诊前搜索信息，8.65%在就诊后搜索，54.54%在就诊前后都搜索信息。中国城市患者中，文化程度较高、收入较高、年轻、积极使用互联网、居住在高收入城市的患者更有可能成为活跃的在线医疗信息搜索者（将互联网作为主要信息源）和在线医疗信息搜索者（曾在线搜索过医疗信息）。除性别和年龄外，大多数社会人口学特征与在线医疗信息搜索时间均无显著关联。
中国活跃的在线医疗信息搜索者和在线医疗信息搜索者的显著预测因素几乎相同。区域经济发展对医疗信息搜索者有显著的直接影响。大多数社会人口学特征与在线医疗信息搜索时间无显著关联。本研究结果表明，中国的卫生信息技术产业具有中国特色。
