Digital Divide in Accessing the Health Information and its Impact on Health Behaviours: Evidence from ELSA

Digital Divide in Accessing the Health Information and its Impact on Health Behaviours: Evidence from ELSA | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Digital Divide in Accessing the Health Information and its Impact on Health Behaviours: Evidence from ELSA Yisong Wang, Xuezheng Qin This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7375265/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract We study the behavioural impact of the 2007 launch of the NHS website on older adults in England. Using eleven waves of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (2002–2022), we implement a cohort difference-in-differences design that scales post-2007 changes by a pre-period digital propensity index (P pre i ) estimated with cross-fitted gradient boosting. A one–standard deviation increase in P pre i is associated with increases of about 1.2 percentage points in GP contact (3 months), 3.0 percentage points in any screening, and 2.4 percentage points in exercise participation, alongside a small, imprecise decline in smoking. Event studies show flat pretrends and gradual post-2007 accumulation. Mechanism analyses indicate both a direct online channel (greater health-information use) and a GP-mediated channel (more routine checks), with larger effects among higher-education respondents. Results are robust to placebo policy dates, alternative constructions of P pre i , and fixed-effects variants. Curated public digital information can shift utilisation and selected behaviours in older populations, but complementary inclusion and accessibility policies are needed to avoid widening disparities. JEL Classification: I12, J14, I18, L86, D83 Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7375265","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":522126037,"identity":"55dbd243-fb9e-417f-8281-8f2828bbc6ca","order_by":0,"name":"Yisong Wang","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABDElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACZgTrAJiSABE8xGlhS2A4QJQWBOAxIE6LwXH2h48Lfh2WN+df8/nzxzaGPMkZCYwP3rYxyJvj0nKYx9h4Zt9hw50z3m6TONjGUCwtkcBsOLeNwXBnA04tbNK8PbcZN9w4u40BqCVxnkQCUKSNIcHgAC4t7M9AWuw33Djz+ANUC/tv/FoYzKR5ftxO3HC+hwHksMTZQFuY8WmRBPmFt+F/8oYbbGYSZ85JFEv2PGyWnHNOwnADDi18548/fMzzJ812w/nDjz9UlNnkSRxPPvjhTZmNPC5bFEDijG1AQiKBAUoyNjBAowcrkAdJM/wBYn6IoQk4lY6CUTAKRsGIBQAJb2E9FfB8EQAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"Peking University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yisong","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""},{"id":522126038,"identity":"12c99e2a-c6d7-4420-8548-24bc1eda88ab","order_by":1,"name":"Xuezheng Qin","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Peking University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xuezheng","middleName":"","lastName":"Qin","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-08-14 15:23:28","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7375265/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7375265/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":92438382,"identity":"87136400-3e99-4733-874a-38c3905a34ec","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-09-29 17:42:03","extension":"json","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":5246,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"285792515849433c8ab4fbffa02ab63f.json","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7375265/v1/a2972089fbab3aa8bdb0437b.json"},{"id":101431699,"identity":"83bdd431-dbfb-48f2-adf4-bb0b89293365","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-29 15:43:34","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1422771,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"AnonymisedManuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7375265/v1_covered_d6c9befc-92f5-41d8-9f39-4cc282f8be6c.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Digital Divide in Accessing the Health Information and its Impact on Health Behaviours: Evidence from ELSA","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7375265/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7375265/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eWe study the behavioural impact of the 2007 launch of the NHS website on older adults in England. 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