Bipolar disorder top target among mobile users

With the twenty-something population showing a higher prevalence of bipolar disorder, it’s no wonder the condition ranks high in mobile-device activity. The younger population is more likely to use a smart phone, and they are turning to mobile devices for real-time research into their symptoms and potential treatments, according to a report from PageScience.

Bipolar was the top condition over a 10-day study period with 3.8 million mobile impressions (individuals’ viewing of information digitally), followed by cancer with 2.6 million. The study compared mobile to personal computer impressions as well, finding bipolar mobile impressions to far outweigh those made from a PC. Anxiety, ranked No. 10, was another mental-health condition that made the list.

“The 82% incidence of mobile use for bipolar disorder is even more impressive when you consider that mobile accounts for just 5% of overall online impressions for health conditions,” said Bill Jennings, CEO of PageScience, in a press release.

A spreadsheet of 82 health conditions, and their breakdown by mobile, PCs and tablets, plus bar graphs breaking down the top mental health conditions and top episodic health conditions by device, are available at https://www.pagescience.com/lab.html