Clinical Geriatrics

The more older adults, and their caregivers, know about their health, the better they fare. Studies have found, for example, that well-informed patients are more likely to follow their healthcare providers’ recommendations and are better able to manage chronic health problems.

Increasingly, older adults and their caregivers are turning to the Internet for health information. According to a nationwide Pew Internet & American Life Project survey, the number of Americans age 65 and older using the Internet jumped 47% between 2000 and 2004—when nearly 1 in 4 was going online. Among Web users in general, health sites are the most frequently visited.

This can be a good or a bad thing, depending on which sites they’re visiting. More than 80 studies evaluating Internet health information have come to the same conclusion: The accuracy of this information varies dramatically from website to website. Many sites for the general public simply aren’t reviewed or fact-checked. In light of this, clinicians can help their patients and their patients’ loved ones find reliable health information by steering them to more reputable Web resources.

The American Geriatrics Society Foundation for Health in Aging (FHA) website, Aging in the Know (www.healthinaging.org/agingintheknow), offers consumers accurate, complete, and up-to-date information on health and aging. Created and regularly updated by a team of experts on elder care, the site’s content is based on resources that the AGS has developed for its professional members. (The website also directs readers to other organizations and websites that have credible and reliable information on given topics.) The site describes normal aging, offers advice on making healthcare decisions and working effectively with healthcare providers, and covers a wide range of common health problems among older adults, from back pain and osteoporosis to frailty and dementia.

The FHA site also includes a “New Research” section that provides easy-to-read summaries of the latest studies published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (JAGS). Written for the general public, each summary begins with an introduction that puts the new research findings in context, and includes a section subtitled “What Should I Do?” that offers clear advice on how to put the new information to use. For readers who want to know more, each summary also includes a link to the original JAGS study. Recent summaries cover new findings regarding anemia and cognitive ability, smoking cessation among older adults, pain relief in nursing homes, and other health issues in the elderly.

Some of the other websites I like to refer patients to include the Kaiser Family Foundation site (www.kff.org) for information on health policy (including policy concerning Medicare and Medicaid) and the Alzheimer’s Association site (www.alz.org) for information on dementia.

Letting patients and their families know that not all of the health information on the Web is accurate and pointing them toward reliable Web resources like the ones I mentioned above can help them stay better informed. And that can help them stay healthier.