Perceived Health Misinformation on Social Media and Public Trust in Health Care.

Abstract

Objectives: Investigate the association between perceptions of health misinformation on social media and trust in the health care system among US adults, and to assess whether this association varies by frequency of health care visits, perceived health care quality and experiences of medical care discrimination.

Methods: Cross-sectional survey study using data from the 2022 Health Information National Trends Survey 6 (HINTS 6). Analysis was conducted on data collected from March to November 2022. Participants included 3805 adults who reported using social media and had at least one health care visit in the past year. Survey-weighted, multivariable logistic regression models were used to assess associations.

Results: Among those who reported high trust in the health care system, 65.1% perceived less than substantial health misinformation on social media, whereas 34.9% perceived substantial misinformation. In multivariable models, participants who perceived substantial health misinformation on social media had higher odds of reporting low trust in the health care system (OR: 1.66; 95% CI: 1.11-2.48). This association between misinformation and trust varied by perceived health care quality and experiences of discrimination. Among those perceiving less than substantial misinformation, the probability of low trust was 11% (95% CI: 9-13) for individuals without medical care discrimination and 33% (95% CI: 20-45) for those reporting discrimination. The interactions between misinformation and health care visit frequency and quality were not statistically significant.

Conclusions: Perceptions of substantial social media health misinformation were associated with lower trust in the US health care system, particularly among individuals reporting experiences of medical care discrimination.