The aim of this study was to summarize and analyse findings fromfour prior studies on the use of the Internet as a source of health\r\ninformation in five European countries (Norway, Denmark, Germany, Greece, and Portugal). A cross-study comparison of data\r\nwas performed. All the studies included fit with a trend of a sharp and continuous growth in the use of the Internet for health\r\ninformation access in the major part of the last decade. Importantly, the Internet has become an important mass media source\r\nof health information in northern Europe. While the use of the Internet for health information is somewhat less common in the\r\nsouth European countries, its use is also clearly increasing there.We discuss the advantages of cross-study comparisons of data and\r\nmethodological challenges. As the use of the Internet for health information is likely to peak in some countries in the near future,\r\nnew population surveys on health information access should focus more on the details of information that is accessed and which\r\nsites that are most used and trusted.
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