Health App Disparities Persist

People who use mobile phones to look up medical information or to run applications for managing their health tend to be younger, browner, city dwellers.

The "Mobile Health 2010" report, a project of the Pew Research Center, found that:

17% of cell phone owners use the devices to look up health or medical information, yet 29% of cell owners ages 18-29 have done such searches.

9% of cell owners have software applications or "apps" on their phones that help them track or manage their health. Some 15% of those ages 18-29 have them.

15% of African American cell phone owners use mobile health app, compared with 11% of Latino and 7% of white cell phone users.

Urban cell phone owners are more likely than those who live in suburban or rural areas to have a mobile health app on their phone.

The survey, conducted in September as part of the Pew Internet & American Life Project, found no significant differences in patterns of use between men and women or among income groups.

A report of the survey's findings, released this week, notes that almost 300,000 applications run on iPhones, Blackberries and Android devices. Of those related to health, there are apps for counting calories, gleaning nutrition information, logging fitness workouts, monitoring vital signs, providing health tips, calculating disease risks, calculating body mass index, keeping personal health records, providing information to health care workers, learning about medicines, quitting smoking and performing yoga stretching exercises at work.

Even so, the report found that "most adults' search for health information remains anchored in the offline world."

Previous research by Pew suggests that the anchor is lifting. Its research shows that getting a wireless device leads to users' gathering, sharing and creating new information on the Internet.

"These patterns are beginning to emerge in Americans' pursuit of health information on mobile devices," according to the report. In addition, "wireless connections are associated with deeper engagement in health-related social media."