[Health-related use of the Internet in the Norwegian population].

Background: The use of the Internet for health purposes increases in the Norwegian population, more in some demographic groups than in others. In this questionnaire-based study, we explore the use of the Internet for such purposes.

Material And Method: 1007 Norwegians aged 15 years and older were interviewed by telephone in October 2005.

Results: 58% of the respondents in 2005 had used the Internet for health purposes, compared to 31% in 2001. Having visited the GP last year, being female, being young, living in a urban area, and having a white-collar occupation were positively related to the use of the Internet for health purposes. 37% of the respondents considered the Internet to be an important or very important source of health information. 72% considered face-to-face communication with health care personnel to be important or very important. Nearly a quarter of the users (23%) reported that they had felt reassured by health information found on the net, whereas 10 % experienced increased anxiety from the same type of information.

Conclusions: Norwegians' use of the Internet for health purposes continues to grow, but doctors and other health care personnel remain the most important sources of health information in the Norwegian population.