Addressing the Changing Sources of Health Information in Iran

Background: following the entrance of new technologies inhealth information era, this study aimed to assess changes in healthinformation sources of iranian people during past decade.methods: totally 3000 people were asked about their main sourcesof health information. they were selected as two community?basedsamples of 1500 people of more than 18-years-old in two differentperiods of time in august 2002 and august 2010 from the samelocations in tehran, the capital of iran. data analyzed based onage group, sex, educational level and household income in twodifferent periods of time using chi?square. odds ratios associatedwith each basic characteristic were calculated using logisticregression.results: most common sources of health information in 2002were radio and television (17.7%), caregivers (14.9%) andinternet (14.2%) and in 2010 were radio and television (19.3%),internet (19.3%) and caregivers (15.8%) (p < 0.001). in 2010, youngadults female used television and radio and male used internet asthe main source of health information (p = 0.003). in moderateeducational level women got their health information from radioand television and caregivers; while men used radio and televisionand internet as main source of health information (p = 0.005).highly educated women and men mainly got their healthinformation from internet and radio and television (p > 0.05).conclusion: although during 8 years of study radio and televisionremained as main source of health information but there is anincreasing tendency to use internet especially in men. policymakersshould revise their broadcasting strategies based on people demand.