“Men are less likely than women to search online for health-related information — for themselves or others, according to findings presented Sunday at the American Psychological Association, the Washington Post reports.”

Uh DUH!

Hardly call this late breaking news (heck it was based on surveys done between 2000 & 2004) and certainly feel sorry for whoever funded this research effort as they did not get their money’s worth.

Why do I have such a problem with this?  Quite simple, have you ever gone to any of the popular health-centric websites like WebMD, RevolutionHealth, etc.?  The first thing one notices is that the whole site looks like it is targeting women with pictures of smiling women, lists of women-specific healthcare topics, the list goes on and on.  Another example is Meredith Publishing’s recent acquisition of healthcare search engine Healia.  Meredith is publisher of the well-read women magazine Good Housekeeping.  Clearly they see a market to serve within their traditional base.

Appears to me that these businesses figured out long ago who their audience was.