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BACKGROUND: Understanding how and when patients use nonphysician sources of health information is important to facilitate shared decision making within provider outpatient visits. However, little is known about which older adults seek health information on the internet or when.

OBJECTIVE: To determine how patient characteristics are related to seeking health information online and to the timing of these searches in relation to doctor visits.

PARTICIPANTS: Six thousand two hundred and seventy‐nine respondents (aged 63 to 66 years) who completed the 2004 round of phone and mail surveys (70% response) as part of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study Graduate Sample.

MEASUREMENTS: Self‐reported use of the internet to search for health information and timing of use.

RESULTS: One‐third of respondents had searched online for information about their own health or health care. Half of these searched …