# The Prevalence of Internet Use as a Source of Information Among Patients With Hypertension

## TL;DR

This study finds that about a quarter of Hispanic patients with hypertension use the internet to learn about their condition, often using Google and seeking treatment options.

## Contribution

The study is one of the first to assess internet use for hypertension self-education in a predominantly Hispanic patient population.

## Key findings

- 22.7% of patients with hypertension used the internet for self-directed learning about their condition.
- Google was the most common resource used for hypertension-related research.
- Younger patients and those with higher education were more likely to use the internet for this purpose.

## Abstract

Background and objective

The incidence of hypertension is growing at an alarming rate globally. In the United States, nearly half of the adult population suffers from hypertension, a disease potentially associated with long-term dire consequences and comorbidities. While Internet access has proliferated, and free Internet-based education resources for healthy lifestyles have exponentially increased over the past two decades, little is known about whether Internet-based information can be or is used as a self-learning tool for hypertension management in a community setting. With almost no published data, if and to what degree Internet-based, self-directed learning tools are used for hypertension management needs to be assessed. In light of this, we aimed to evaluate the prevalence of Internet use as a source of information in patients with known diagnoses of hypertension who presented to our Internal Medicine clinic at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, El Paso.

Materials and methods

We conducted a single-center, cohort-based observational study at our teaching hospital's internal medicine clinic. A survey questionnaire was distributed to all adults aged more than 18 years with a known diagnosis of hypertension. Consent for participation was obtained from all participants. Of the total studied population, 93.6% (190/203) were of Hispanic descent. Moreover, 67.5% (137/203) identified as female. Of note, 22.7% (46/203) reported using the Internet to learn about hypertension. Internet users were younger, with a mean age of 61.4 years compared to 68.7 (p=0.02) years for non-Internet users, attended institutions of a higher grade of education, and mostly received information regarding hypertension from their families (91.3% vs 2.5%, p<0.001). While most patients used the Internet for making treatment decisions and were satisfied with their choices, more than a quarter felt confused and anxious after using Internet-based resources.

Results

Most patients in the study were found to not use the Internet as a resource tool for hypertension management (157/203; 77.3%). Among the 22.7% of patients who used the Internet for hypertension management, the most commonly utilized resource was Google.com, as an initial step to hypertension research (26/46, 58.6%, p<0.001), followed by multiple resources within a predetermined list on the provided survey (14/46, 30.4%). The survey also assessed the reasons for using Internet-based resources, with the primary reason being evaluating treatment options (19/46, 41.5%), followed by developing coping skills (13/46, 28.2%), and lastly aiding in decision-making (10/46, 21.5%).

Conclusions

Internet-based educational tools are mushrooming as the Internet is becoming more pervasive. This study shows that within this predominant Hispanic population, nearly one-quarter of patients with hypertension are using Internet-based, self-learning tools. This highlights a slow shift in medical education which providers have to be prepared for as patients will be using these tools as secondary information sources for medical decision-making more frequently going forward. Further studies need to be conducted to evaluate the current and longitudinal impact of these new information sources.