[Internet use by teenagers from Gijón (Asturias) as a source of health information]

To evaluate the use of Internet as a source of health information by adolescents, its reliability and the acceptability of an email service for their questions.

Cross-sectional study.

Secondary schools. Gijón (Asturias).

475 students (1st and 4th Secondary, and 1st High School) selected by two-stage cluster sampling.

Self-administered questionnaire of ten items.

Age, sex, availability of Internet at home, daily time use, subjects consulted, source health consultation, information obtained reliability, willingness to use e-mail health consultations.

A total of 468 valid questionnaires, of which 88.5% had Internet at home, 42.5% use more than one hour daily on weekdays and 74% during the weekend. The most accessed topics were physical exercise (29.5%), self-image (23.3%) and piercing, and tattoos (18.4%). Internet is the fourth resource used for health concerns (13.9%), behind family, doctor and friends. The majority, 56%, gave a very low reliability to health information obtained on Internet. A total of 70.5% would use an email address that provided answers to health questions.

Availability of Internet at home is above the national average. High usage but low for health information, which gives low credibility. It would be advisable to start a mail service for adolescents treated by a multidisciplinary team from Primary Care.