Today I will discuss some findings in the last of the three reports I’ve found that relate to seniors and Internet usage. This one is entitled “Prescription Drugs Online” by the Pew/Internet Project. The whole report is available here. This is a recent report (October 2004), so its findings should be reasonably up to date. The following is the summary of its major findings.

Prescription Drugs Online: Summary of Findings at a Glance

• Sixty-four percent of American households are regular consumers of prescription drugs.

• One in four American adults has searched online for information about prescription drugs.
• Most Americans do not fully trust the online prescription drug marketplace.
• A fraction of Americans has ever bought prescription drugs online.
• Convenience is the top reason for online prescription-drug purchasing.
• The typical online transaction includes a doctor’s prescription, a U.S.-based pharmacy, and satisfied customers.
• Few respond to e-mail advertisements, but drug spam continues to pile up.
• Ignorance and mistrust of the online prescription drug market may be dispelled by further research and good experiences.

Source: Fox, Susannah. Prescription Drugs Online. Washington, DC: Pew Internet & American Life Project, October 10, 2004.

The report discusses each point in detail and gives data to support it.

Our concern in this article is primarily the findings of the report with respect to age. Two points are relevant here. The survey shows that the longer people have been online, the more likely they are to have searched for information about or bought prescription drugs online. This is probably the reason that the percentage of people searching for prescription drugs declines from a maximum of 28% for younger baby boomers (cohort of 1955-1964) to 8% for Internet users of age >68. However, I was a bit surprised by these findings since, in general, older people use more prescription drugs and are more concerned about conserving cash flow than younger people online. Perhaps the fact that products like Viagra are included skews the statistics a bit (I assume without justification that Viagra purchases probably peak in the mature adult range, but decline for the advanced seniors).

Another fascinating statistic is the probability that a person looks for drugs online is independent of the person’s health status. However, the probability that someone else has looked for that person is more than twice as great if the subject is in poor health. This might mean that mature children are looking for drugs for older parents. However, that is not clear from the report.

Given all the publicity about buying prescription drugs from foreign countries, particularly Canada, I would have expected the report to devote a section to this topic, but it only gives passing mention to foreign purchases. However, for those who think that Canadian drugs are dangerous, the report quotes Minnesota’s Governor, Tim Pawlenty, in response to the federal government’s stated concerns as saying, “…show me the dead Canadians…”

Do any readers think our government is totally concerned about safety, or could there be some relation between the pharmaceutical companies and the government that encourages regulations that keep the prices (and profits) high?

At this time, most Americans distrust buying drugs online. Putting on my fearless prediction hat, this will surely change over time, and such purchases will increase dramatically. However, I doubt that we will see seniors bidding against each other on eBay for their prescriptions. Hmm, maybe that is happening already. I’d better check before committing.

For more in-depth tips on tutoring seniors, see the complete tutorial here. I also have posted a tutorial on elementary decision theory for those who might question a physician’s diagnosis (important for seniors) or anti-terrorist activities (important for everyone) but haven’t had the framework to analyze the data. That tutorial can be found here.