How Diabetes Mellitus-related Health Information is Received by Egyptian Internet Users? A Cross-sectional Study

Background: The Internet has become a fundamental source of health-related information especially for chronic diseases as Diabetes Mellitus. The aim of this study was to explain the health information-seeking behavior using internet health information among Egyptian adults with diabetes. Subjects and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from June to October 2019. A Web-based questionnaire was sent to Egyptian internet users aged 18 years and older (N=380) of a popular Arabic-language health information website. The online questionnaire form included personal characteristics, preference of using internet health information and explore the impact of obtained health information on users’ health behavior. Results: A total of 283 participants completed the Web-based questionnaire with a response rate of 74.5 % (283/380). Personal characteristics of the participants showed that 161 (56.8 %) participants were aged under 35 years, 182 (64.3%) were female, and 110(38.8%) had a good general health status.  Participants prefer seeking OHI for an existing health problem were 138 (48.8%), while 106 (37.4%) participants seek OHI when having a new health problem. Internet health information helped 192 (67.9%) participants to improve their understanding of their health problem, 160 (56.7%) participants reported has decreased their unnecessary visits to their physicians, helped 179 (63.4%) participants to take an active role in their diabetes health management, and 186 (65.9%) participants reported applying healthy changes in their lifestyle. Conclusions: Younger individuals with higher education more likely to seek health information from the internet. Participants mentioned convenience and anonymity as the main reasons to search for diabetes health information on the internet. Internet health information can promote users’ healthy behavior changes.