Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38628501›Full record

ArticleJournal of economic behavior & organization2024

Online health information seeking behavior, healthcare access, and health status during exceptional times.

Cinzia Di Novi, Matija Kovacic, Cristina Elisa Orso

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of economic behavior & organization, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
25citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

25 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Patient narratives in an online hernia peer-support community: a qualitative netnographic analysis.Hernia : the journal of hernias and abdominal wall surgery · 2026
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  16. Analysis of Google users' interests in information about pacifiers: an ecological digital study.European archives of paediatric dentistry : official journal of the European Academy of Paediatric Dentistry · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Cinzia Di NoviEuropean Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Via Enrico Fermi 2749, TP 267, 21027, Ispra, VA, Italy.
Matija KovacicEuropean Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Via Enrico Fermi 2749, TP 267, 21027, Ispra, VA, Italy.
Cristina Elisa OrsoDepartment of Law, Economics, and Cultures, University of Insubria, Como, Italy.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Online health information seeking behavior (e-HISB) is becoming increasingly common and the trend has accelerated as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when individuals strongly relied upon the Internet to stay informed by becoming exposed to a wider array of health information. Despite e-HISB having become a global trend, very few empirical investigations have analyzed its potential influence on healthcare access and individuals' health status. In this paper, we try to fill this gap. We use data from the second SHARE Corona Survey, supplemented with data from the previous 8th wave of SHARE, and estimate a recursive model of e-HISB, healthcare access, and individuals' health status that accounts for individuals' unobserved heterogeneity. Our findings suggest that e-HISB can empower individuals to better understand health concerns, facilitating improved health condition management. However, e-HISB can also trigger a chain reaction, as navigating vast amonts of online health information can heighten fear and anxiety. This increased anxiety may lead to higher utilization of medical services, adversely affecting individuals' perceptions of their health.

Indexed as

Healthcare accessHealth information seeking behaviorHealth status

Identifiers

PMID38628501
PMCPMC11019610

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.