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Were You Contacted to Participate in HINTS?

Congratulations on being selected to participate in the Health Information National Trends Survey, also known as HINTS! The goal of HINTS is to learn what health information people want to know and where they go to find it. Tens of thousands of people across the United States have participated in HINTS since 2003.

By completing the questionnaire you received, you will help us learn what health information you and your family need and how to make it available to you.

In previous HINTS surveys, we learned that:

  • Over 70% of adults in America agree that ‘there are so many different recommendations about preventing cancer, it's hard to know which ones to follow.’
  • 27% of adults in America used wearable devices like Fitbits and Apple Watches to monitor their health in the past year and over 70% of them use the device to track their health every day or almost every day.
  • About one third of adults in America (34%) are not sure whether e-cigarettes are more or less harmful than regular cigarettes.
  • About half of adults in America (47%) reported trying to lose weight in the past year

To make sure HINTS provides accurate information, we need all the households that are invited to participate to complete the questionnaire, so if you have not sent in your questionnaire, we encourage you to do so!

Your participation is voluntary, and your responses will be kept private under the Privacy Act of 1974. Your answers cannot be connected to your name or any other information that could identify you or your household, to the extent provided by law. To read more about the Privacy Act, visit the U.S. Department of Justice Web site at http://www.justice.gov/opcl/privacyact1974.htm.

We have contracted with the research firm Westat to conduct the survey. To learn more about Westat, visit their Web site at www.Westat.com.

If you have any questions about HINTS or you need another copy of the questionnaire, please call Westat toll-free at 1-888-738-6805.

The HINTS Panel

If you completed a HINTS survey and provided us with an email address to be recontacted to participate in future surveys, please look for an email from HINTSPanel@westat.com or visit http://hints-panel.org to learn more about the HINTS Panel and your role in it.

Thank you in advance for contributing to this important national study.