It's fairly common knowledge that mobile devices in general are on the rise, so suggesting that adults in the United States are increasingly turning to mobile devices in the field of healthcare as well. A recent report from Manhattan Research Cybercitizen Health shows just how far mobile devices in accessing healthcare information is going, with fully 95 million adults in the United States using mobile devices to reach the healthcare information needed.
That's a big number in isolation, and when it's considered that the entire population of the United States, adults and children alike, is somewhere around 313 million, as a percentage it's also pretty astonishing. Factor out the children and that 95 million number suddenly becomes around about every other person in the United States turning to this technology. But the numbers only get more impressive when compared over time: that 95 million represents a 27 percent increase from the numbers reported in just 2012, where 75 million users were accounted for. Indeed, 38 percent of users called the devices “essential” as far as getting information about healthcare goes. Perhaps the most unusual measure, though, came in terms of what disorders prompted the greatest use of mobile devices in terms of getting healthcare information.
When it came to mobile devices in healthcare, those with acne were among the most likely to use a mobile device to get information about the disease, while those with ADHD, Hepatitis C, Crohn's disease, growth hormone deficiencies, and cystic fibrosis rounded out the list of the most likely to turn to a mobile health service.
It stood to reason from the early going that, with more mobile devices in more people's hands, more of these people would turn to said devices for a variety of reasons, up to and including the use of said devices in the healthcare field. Why not? If a user was affected by a healthcare issue in some way, why not use the device closest to hand to find treatment options or information about the symptoms of said disease? Granted, it's not a substitute for full medical care, but being informed about options is seldom a bad strategy when it comes to healthcare, and being able to better articulate symptoms experienced isn't all that bad either. It's kind of a surprise, of course, to see the numbers climb that rapidly, but the underlying principle around the whole affair is certainly sound enough.
It's likely that more people will continue to use mobile devices for healthcare information the farther in we go, and more devices may well emerge to help facilitate that. The market is quite clearly there, and growing, so taking advantage of a growing market will likely not prove to be a bad idea.
Edited by
Ryan Sartor
