April 2, 2021 – The internet is often the first place many of us can find information, whether it’s hotels, music, or furniture. And health advice is no exception – especially with millennials.
A new Harmony Healthcare IT survey of 2,040 millennials (23 to 39 years old) in February found that 69% of respondents looked for health and medical advice online instead of seeing a doctor, and a quarter of respondents trust Google accurately diagnose their symptoms. A large majority (83%) also do their own research after hearing their doctor, and 42% trust their own research more than that of their doctor.
“This seems to be a common thread as millennials turn to online resources to self-diagnose symptoms or investigate a disease they may have,” Collin Czarnecki, a researcher on Harmony Healthcare’s IT survey, told WebMD .
Providing reliable online resources
Harmony Healthcare IT conducted a similar survey among millennials in 2019.
“As a data management company that works with hospitals across the country, we wanted to look at Millennials, a population that many hospital groups work with, and we decided to look back at Millennials this year to see what changes the pandemic might have made “Said Czarnecki.
Not much has changed in finding medical advice online since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, although the 2019 survey found that a slightly higher percentage (73%) of Millennials go online for medical advice, however “That number stayed pretty high at eye level,” he said.
How the COVID-19 Pandemic Affected Millennial Health #Infographic
The COVID-19 pandemic has kept health issues and health care issues under control for many people around the world over the past year. A new poll aimed to see how seriously the younger generations take … pic.twitter.com/vQgHIHszzE
– Infographics for everyone (@youinfographic) March 17, 2021
WebMD was the most frequently consulted online site. It was used by 71% of respondents, followed by News Articles (27%), YouTube (26%), Health Apps (23%), FamilyDoctor.org (18%), Reddit (18%) and Everyday Health (16) %). “It was really interesting to see people consulting Reddit,” said Czarnecki. “This was a great resource for researching stocks, but it seems people are using it for health advice too.”
Amir Lerman, MD, director of the Chest Pain and Coronary Physiology Clinic in the Cardiovascular Medicine Department at Mayo Clinic, told WebMD that these results are an important takeaway message for healthcare providers.
“Consultation of the internet for medical advice is not lost and is part of a democratization of resources,” said Lerman, a professor of medicine whose research found large numbers of people searched online for information about their heart symptoms, so possibly delaying it life saving medical care.
“As doctors, we need to be sure that we are providing the right online resources for patients and that they are reliable and not commercially or professionally biased,” he said.
Millennials prefer telemedicine
Despite the heavy use of the internet for medical advice, 79% of the millennials surveyed said they have a family doctor – an increase of 3 percentage points compared to 2019. In fact, more than a quarter (28%) started a new doctor relationship with a family doctor during the Pandemic.
On the other hand, the percentage of Millennials who received a physical exam in the past year (65%) was unchanged from 2019.
Czarnecki suggested that the higher number of family doctor visits could be explained by the use of telemedicine, which has skyrocketed since the pandemic began.
“We found that nearly half – 41% – of respondents said they would rather go to the doctor virtually, which is the convenience telemedicine offers patients,” he said. The fact that more people were home due to pandemic social distancing restrictions also increased the amount of time people might have to see a doctor.
“The ability to speak to your doctor through a video platform, communicate with the doctor through a health portal, and make an appointment probably played a role in the convenience millennials had in scheduling a follow-up appointment,” said Czarnecki.
Lerman believes there will be more virtual interactions even after the pandemic. He said they could set up face-to-face appointments “professionally and efficiently”.
“Some of the work can be done by expanding digital health platforms and applications prior to appointment,” he said. For example, “We are working on doing some of the cardiac examination at home using equipment that can transmit some of the patient’s information in advance.”
The convenience of telehealth has also made them more popular. A virtual appointment can also form the basis for a personal visit, as the doctor and patient have already checked the problems together and can decide together on the time and type of the personal visit.
The effects of financial uncertainty
Concerns about possible job or vacation loss may have played a role in the increased visits to general practitioners. “Given the potential for overhead jobs being lost, they want to make sure that in the worst case scenario of loss of employer-related health care they are under investigation,” Czarnecki hypothesized.
Although more millennials have consulted a GP, 43% said they had ignored a health problem and 33% said they had ignored it for more than a year. A similar percentage had not received any screening since the pandemic began. The most common reason was COVID-19 security concerns; But more than a third didn’t do a physical exam because they thought it was too expensive.
“Pandemic economic factors have played a huge role in millennials’ relationship with their health care,” noted Czarnecki.
Nearly a quarter (24%) of respondents said they had taken on new medical debt since the pandemic began, with 28% reporting an increase of more than $ 1,000.
“Some of the non-personal interactions are covered by insurance, and I think that will increase. Visits and tests are under pressure because they save time and money, ”Lerman said.
Many millennials don’t want to be vaccinated
Vaccinations are a hot topic among Americans in general, and millennials are no exception. Just over half (55%) of respondents said they were getting a COVID-19 vaccination, a quarter said not to, and a fifth weren’t sure.
“Millennials who said they weren’t getting the vaccine were more likely not to have a GP and get their medical advice online rather than through a doctor,” said Czarnecki.
“Our data shows that millennials rely heavily on the internet for medical information and disinformation, and that it may affect their opinion on whether or not to get the vaccine,” he said.
Compared to women, a greater percentage of men were willing to receive the COVID-19 vaccine (51% versus 60%).
Czarnecki speculated that women may be less willing to get vaccinated than men, as recent CDC data shows women report worse side effects and more allergic reactions compared to men.
Another factor is that millennial women in particular may have “great concerns about the potential impact of a vaccine on pregnancy and breastfeeding,” Lerman suggested.
Silver lining?
COVID-19 has changed the face of health care for all Americans, and millennials are no exception. “Overall, it’s important to look at the positive side of the trends identified by our survey, especially the importance of telehealth,” said Czarnecki.
“Doctors should ensure that the technologies that facilitate patient-doctor interaction are easy to use and that it is as seamless and convenient as possible for them to schedule and keep future appointments,” he said.
Harmony Healthcare IT plans to continue studying millennials to see if these trends continue as healthcare evolves after the pandemic.
WebMD Health News
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CDC: “First Month of COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Surveillance – US, December 14, 2020 – January 13, 2021.”
JAMA: “Association of Search Engine Queries for Chest Pain with Coronary Heart Disease Epidemiology.”
Harmony Healthcare IT: “Survey Shows How The COVID-19 Pandemic Has Affected Millennials ‘Health”, “Survey Shows Millennials’ Relationship To Healthcare.”
Collin Czarnecki, Researcher, Harmony Healthcare IT.
Amir Lerman, MD, Professor of Medicine, Director of the Clinic for Chest Pain and Coronary Physiology, Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.
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