Wikipedia is the leading source of information on health conditions for providers and patients, according to a report published by the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics.

This finding was among several documented in the institute’s report, “Engaging Patients through Social Media,” which analyzed use of social media by pharmaceutical companies, consumers and providers.

The top 100 English Wikipedia pages for healthcare topics were accessed, on average, 1.9 million times during the past year, ranging from 4.2 million for tuberculosis to 1.3 million for acne vulgaris. Individuals accessed the website most frequently to obtain information on rarer diseases, which often have fewer available information sources and are less understood by patients and clinicians, according to the study. Half of physicians surveyed said they’ve consulted the community-edited, online encyclopedia for information on health conditions.

In other related findings:

• Wikipedia is used throughout patient care, not just at the point of treatment initiation or change in therapy.
• There is a correlation between Wikipedia use and medicine use for many disease areas.
• Younger people tend to conduct online investigations before they start therapy while patients older than 50 years old tend to start treatment, then seek information online
• Content for healthcare-related Wikipedia pages is subject to constant change—an average of 16 to 46 times per month since their creation—and these articles often are overseen by informal or formal working groups.
• At least half of all healthcare-related changes on assessed Wikipedia disease articles involve changes to patient relevant information.

Some healthcare professionals acknowledge the dangers of incorrect or incomplete medical information on Wikipedia, yet there is no established approach to funneling the vast resources of healthcare institutions, the pharmaceutical industry, regulatory and patient groups into the content of this website, according to the report.

“Even if the healthcare stakeholders are not involved in correcting and reviewing online information on portals like Wikipedia, they must be aware of and recognize the temporal state of the resources that patients, caregivers and physicians rely on throughout their treatment journey,” the institute concluded in the report.

To request the full report, go here.