Patients’ confidence in their ability to find answers about health questions and make informed decisions has plummeted in the past year, according to an Edelman survey.
Edelman, a public relations and marketing consultancy, has tracked public trust in aspects of healthcare across a series of surveys. From 2022 to 2025, the proportion of people globally who were confident in their ability to find answers about health questions and make informed decisions was stable, coming in at 61% in three of the years and only dipping to 59% in the other year.
In 2026, the result fell 10 percentage points to 51%. The drop reflects a global shift, with Edelman seeing statistically significant declines in 14 of 16 markets. The 14-percentage-point drops in the U.S. and France were the biggest shifts, but the downward trend was seen in countries across Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe. Edelman saw confidence dips that fell short of statistical significance in the UAE and China.
The consultancy said the trend signals growing uncertainty in navigating health information. Trust in the media has yet to return to pre-COVID-19 levels, and trust in healthcare CEOs fell 7 percentage points to 44% over the past year.
Some people are turning to artificial intelligence for information, with 35% of respondents saying they use the technology to manage their health. Among those respondents, 78% of people said they use AI to get treatment recommendations. Almost two-thirds of respondents said someone who is fluent with AI but lacks formal medical training can at least match a doctor on one or more healthcare tasks.
Edelman also looked at views on six “divisive” health beliefs, such as the ideas that the risks of childhood vaccinations outweigh the benefits and that taking acetaminophen during pregnancy causes autism. The survey found 70% of respondents believe at least one of the six claims, although belief in any one claim ranged from 25% to 32%.
At 61%, the U.S. had the third-lowest rate of belief in at least one of the claims. Belief in the claims was most widespread in India and South Africa, where 89% and 88% of people, respectively, said at least one of the ideas is true.
The findings illustrate the challenges facing biopharma marketing teams, particularly those operating in contentious areas such as vaccines. Respondents’ persistent confidence in their own doctors, who 80% of people said they trust, points to one avenue for getting health information to patients. Yet that model has limitations, with most people who hold three or more divisive beliefs saying they have disregarded medical guidance in favor of advice from friends, family or social media in the past year.
