Data from a recent Pew survey shows that out of the 85% of American adults who use a mobile phone today, 17% have used their phone to look up health or medical information.

Looking at demographics, users in the 18-29 age group are much more likely to access mobile health information and services, with 29% of respondents indicating they’ve used such a service.  African American users are more likely than other groups to use health apps, with the survey showing 15 percent do so compared to 7 percent of white and 11 percent of Latino mobile users.  Interestingly, Urban users are more likely than those in suburban or rural areas to have a health app on their phones, but there’s no significant differences between usage among men and women nor among income groups, the survey found.

What’s surprising is that the survey shows that using a mobile browser to search for health or medical information is nearly twice as popular as having a health-related app, with only 9 percent of mobile phone users having a software app on their phone that helps them track or manage their health.  As the industry talks up mobile apps as the primary source for health-related information and services, it looks as though mobile Web apps are what users engage with the most.