A large majority of adults over 50 look for health information on the internet, but many report having little to no trust in themselves to detect misinformation.
Among older adults who searched for health information online recently, just 32% reported it was easy to find something accurate. This is concerning to Dr. Jeff Kullgren, who is the director of the National Poll on Healthy Aging and a researcher with Michigan Medicine.
“Because those are patients who could benefit from accurate and reliable health information.”
Kullgren says a lack of health literacy can prevent older patients from accessing information that is helpful. He recommends vetted resources, like website medlineplus.gov. He says it is run by the National Library of Medicine and offers reliable science-based medical information.
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