---
title: "Participatory Medicine – Chronic Disease in the Internet Age"
description: "The internet does not replace health professionals, but rather provides a way for people to gather and share information in a rapid-learning system that can best be described as \"participatory medicine.\""
date: "2010-05-13"
authors:
  - name: "Susannah Fox"
    job_title: "Former Researcher"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/susannah-fox/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2010/05/13/participatory-medicine-chronic-disease-in-the-internet-age/"
categories:
  - "Health Policy"
  - "Medicine & Health"
  - "Online Search"
  - "Social Media"
---

# Participatory Medicine – Chronic Disease in the Internet Age

Susannah Fox will be the closing keynote speaker of the 4th annual [Chronic Care and Prevention Congress ](http://www.worldcongress.com/events/HL10046/index.cfm?confCode=HL10046)in Alexandria, VA.

Highlights of her remarks:

- A national telephone survey conducted by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project finds that one-third of U.S. adults live with at least one of the follow conditions: high blood pressure, heart conditions, lung conditions, diabetes and cancer
- 62% of adults living with chronic disease have access to the internet, compared with 81% of adults who report none of the conditions named in the survey
- Once online, however, people living with chronic disease tap into an ever-widening pool of information including blogs, podcasts, doctor-rating sites and social network sites
- The internet does not replace health professionals, but rather provides a way for people to gather and share information in a rapid-learning system that can best be described as "participatory medicine"