In the issue of Clinical Innovation & Technology, 4/27, Makovsky Health and Kelton reveal interesting results on their survey of 1000 American adults.

The question was simple-

“Would you share your personal health data with researchers to help them understand medical conditions or improve treatment?”

They were also given the choice of making their data anonymous before sharing. (Pai,MobiHealthNews, 4/24).

Results

The survey found that only 10% of responders felt they would have a problem sharing their personal data.  The rest were happy to share if it would:

  • Help researchers better understand medical conditions;
  • Improve the quality of care; and
  • Improve treatment options (Clinical Innovation & Technology, 4/27).

Of those who said they would share their health data:

  • 40% would share their data if they were promised all data would be anonymous;
  • 26% would share their data regardless of whether it were anonymous; and
  • 23% would share their data if they had control over which data were anonymous.

Additional Findings

In addition, researchers found that the percentage of respondents who used a desktop ventolin evohaler online computer to access health information fell from 83% in 2013 to 69% in 2014. Meanwhile, 19% of respondents said they used a mobile phone to access such information, up from 6% last year.

When asked which source they used to get health information:

  • 62% of respondents said WebMD;
  • 25% of respondents said Wikipedia; and
  • 16% of respondents said “advocacy group websites,” such as the American Heart Association or the American Cancer Society (MobiHealthNews, 4/24).

More than one-third of respondents said they would trust a pharmaceutical company-sponsored website for disease information, and more than half said they would trust such a site if it were recommended by a health care provider (Clinical Innovation & Technology, 4/27).

This certainly highlights the view that more people actively seek information for their healthcare and are willing to share their information to help others as well.

So, are you in the 90% or the 10% group?  Are you willing to share?  Comment in the box below.