WASHINGTON – The majority of American adults look online for health information and most are accessing reviews and comments posted by fellow consumers, according to a new report.

The report, from the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project and the California HealthCare Foundation, shows that 61 percent of American adults look online for health information.

The report shows that 20 percent of Internet users who have looked online for health information (e-patients) have also contributed comments, reviews or updates.

“We are beginning to see e-patients turning to interactive features both to help them find information tailored to their needs and to post their own contributions,” said Susannah Fox, a co-author of the report and associate director of the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project. “They treat the Internet as a supplement to traditional sources of information, using blogs, podcasts and other online resources to deepen their understanding of a condition and sharpen their questions for a health professional.” According to the report, 60 percent of e-patients say they or someone they know has been helped by following medical advice or health information found on the Internet – a significant increase from the 2006 Pew report, which put that number at 31 percent. Just 3 percent of e-patients say they or someone they know has been harmed by following medical advice or health information found on the Internet.

“Mobile access allows people to be ‘always present’ to each other and that seems to draw them into conversations about health,” said Sydney Jones, a co-author of the report and research assistant at the Pew Internet Project. “The early Internet provided e-patients online tools that enabled research.