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To the Editor: It would have been informative if Dr Baker and colleagues¹ had stratified their sample by those with chronic health conditions. Such an analysis may have found different rates based on the absence or type of chronic health condition. Indeed, the authors found significant odds ratios for Internet health information use only for those in the category of "fair/poor" but not in the category of "good" self-reported health status. Baker et al discussed the potential effects of the Internet on health care use.

My colleagues and I have recently published 2 studies^2-3 on this topic among patients with breast cancer. In one study,² a group consisting of those who used the Internet for health information was compared with a group who used the Internet for general purposes, as well as another group who had never used the Internet. Those in the group who used the Internet for health . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Joshua Fogel, PhD
Bloomberg School of Public Health
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, Md

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