Among adults who used social media, 84.8% reported sharing personal or general health information, and 70.2% participated in online communities.More than one in five reported making health-related decisions based on social media content.However, 77.7% said they believed the health information encountered was false or misleading.
The bulk of adults who use social media reported engaging with health information via these platforms, despite not always finding it trustworthy, according to survey data.
Out of over 7,000 adults, 87.8% reported using social media, and among those, engagement with health-related content was common, with 84.8% sharing personal or general health information, and 70.2% participating in online communities, reported Rohan Khera, MD, MS, of Yale School of Medicine, in New Haven, Connecticut, and colleagues.
Notably, 21.6% reported making health-related decisions based on social media content, though 77.7% said they believed the health information encountered on social media was false or misleading, the researchers reported in a research letter in JAMA.
"The most striking finding was the disconnect between distrust and behavior," Khera told MedPage Today in an email. This finding "suggests that people may recognize the information environment as unreliable, but exposure to social media health content may still influence their decisions."
