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BackgroundRelatively little is known about the extent to which young adults use the Internet as a health information resource and whether there are factors that distinguish between those who do and do not go online for health information. ObjectiveThe aim was to identify the sociodemographic, physical, mental, and reproductive health factors associated with young women’s use of the Internet for health information. MethodsWe used data from 17,069 young women aged 18-23 years who participated in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health. Multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate the association between sociodemographic, physical, mental, and reproductive health factors associated with searching the Internet for health information. ResultsOverall, 43.54% (7433/17,069) of women used the Internet for health information. Women who used the Internet had higher odds of regular urinary or bowel symptoms (OR 1.44, 95% CI 1.36-1.54), psychological distress (very high distress: OR 1.24, 95% CI 1.13-1.37), self-reported mental health diagnoses (OR 1.16, 95% CI 1.09-1.23), and menstrual symptoms (OR 1.25, 95% CI 1.15-1.36) than women who did not use the Internet for health information. Internet users were less likely to have had blood pressure checks (OR 0.85, 95% CI 0.78-0.93) and skin cancer checks (OR 0.90, 95% CI 0.84-0.97) and to have had a live birth (OR 0.74, 95% CI 0.64-0.86) or pregnancy loss (OR 0.88, 95% CI 0.79-0.98) than non-Internet users. ConclusionsWomen experiencing “stigmatized” conditions or symptoms were more likely to search the Internet for health information. The Internet may be an acceptable resource that offers “anonymized” information or support to young women and this has important implications for health service providers and public health policy.

BackgroundFaced with the challenge of recruiting young adults for health studies, researchers have increasingly turned to the Internet and social networking sites, such as Facebook, as part of their recruitment strategy. As yet, few large-scale studies are available that report on the characteristics and representativeness of the sample obtained from such recruitment methods. ObjectiveThe intent of the study was to describe the sociodemographic and health characteristics of a national sample of young Australian women recruited mainly through the Internet and social networking sites and to discuss the representativeness of their sociodemographic, health, and lifestyle characteristics relative to the population. MethodsA cohort of 17,069 women (born between 1989 and 1995) was recruited in 2012-13 for the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health. Sociodemographic characteristics (percentages, means, and 95% confidence intervals) from the online survey data were compared with women aged 18-23 years from the 2011 Australian Census. Sample data were compared by age and education level with data from the 2011-13 Australian Health Survey (AHS). ResultsCompared to the Australian Census data, study participants were broadly representative in terms of geographical distribution across Australia, marital status (95.62%, 16,321/17,069) were never married), and age distribution. A higher percentage had attained university (22.52%, 3844/17,069) and trade/certificate/diploma qualifications (25.94%, 4428/17,069) compared with this age group of women in the national population (9.4% and 21.7% respectively). Among study participants, 22.05% (3721/16,877) were not in paid employment with 35.18% (5931/16,857) studying 16 or more hours a week. A higher percentage of study participants rated their health in the online survey as fair or poor (rather than good, very good, or excellent) compared with those participating in face-to-face interviews in the AHS (18.77%, 3203/17,069 vs 10.1%). A higher percentage of study participants were current smokers (21.78%, 3718/17,069 vs 16.4%) and physically active (59.30%, 10,089/17,014 were classified as sufficiently active vs 48.3%) but alcohol consumption was lower (59.58%, 9865/16,558 reported drinking alcohol at least once per month vs 65.9% in the AHS). Using self-reported height and weight to determine body mass index (BMI, kg/m2), 34.80% (5901/16,956) of the cohort were classified as overweight or obese (BMI of 25 or more), compared with 33.6% respectively using measured height and weight in the AHS. ConclusionsFindings indicated that using the Internet and social networking sites for an online survey represent a feasible recruitment strategy for a national cohort of young women and result in a broadly representative sample of the Australian population.

Objectives: Most studies on factors influencing dental attendance are cross‐sectional and focus on specific age groups. The associations between private ancillary health insurance, tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption and overweight/obesity with dental attendance were examined in three cohorts of Australian women of different ages using multiple waves of data over similar time periods. Methods: Data from 10 233, 12 378 and 7892 women born in 1973–1978, 1946–1951 and 1921–1926 participating in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health were used. Poisson regression using generalized estimating equations was used to investigate factors associated with self‐report of not visiting the dentist in the 12 months before completing each wave. Results: The role of dental non‐attendance was higher in women without insurance (versus those with insurance) in all cohorts with adjusted rate ratios (RR) of 1.52 95% CI 1.48–1.57, RR 1.45 95% CI 1.41–1.49 and RR 1.32 95% CI 1.28–1.36 in the 1973–78, 1946–51 and 1921–26 cohorts respectively. Current smokers at any intensity (versus never smokers) had a higher risk of non‐attendance and the risk was strongest for women in the 1946–51 cohort who smoked ≥20 cigarettes/day (RR 1.35 95% CI 1.30–1.41). Compared with low‐risk drinkers, non‐drinkers were more likely to be non‐attenders, but only in the two older cohorts. Women who were overweight or obese (versus healthy weight) were more likely to be non‐attenders in all cohorts, with the risk of non‐attendance higher with increasing BMI. Conclusions: This study emphasizes the continued need to address socioeconomic inequities in access to dental care, along with strategies to overcome barriers for those who are obese or smoke. In this study, barriers to access existed for women of all ages, indicating that interventions need to be appropriate across age groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]