Adults over 50 don’t trust online sources of health information

The trend: Many older adults are not confident in their ability to spot medical misinformation online and prefer to rely on healthcare professionals as a trusted source, according to a survey of US consumers ages 50 and up from the University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging conducted earlier this year.

Digging into the data: More than 8 in 10 consumers ages 50+ actively use the internet for health purposes. But most lack trust in various sources of online health information.

• Between 50% and 60% rate websites run by health systems or the government as “very trustworthy.”
• Only 36% rate condition-focused websites as very trustworthy.
• About 3 in 4 do not trust AI-generated health information, with only 1% finding it very trustworthy.
• Just 11% feel that health information on social media is trustworthy.

Who do consumers ages 50+ most trust for health information?