Most of the information patients receive about cancer and its treatment is probably provided by staff in health care, but if patients do not get sufficient information there is a risk that they might rely on nonmedical sources to satisfy their need. The aim of this study was to survey the degree to which patients seek information from sources outside the health care system. All adult cancer patients visiting or being admitted to the Oncology Department on 1 day were asked to complete a questionnaire. In the course of that day, 192 adult patients visited the Oncology Department, and the response rate was 74%. The patients had used an active information-seeking strategy, i.e., had sought information from the following sources, only to a limited degree: the Internet (6%) medical books (37%), narratives (32%) and telephone helplines (10%). A more passive information-seeking strategy was more common; the patients obtained information from television and radio (82%), newspapers (86%), other patients (46%) and friends (55%). There was a significant correlation between educational level and information-seeking from the Internet, medical books and telephone helplines. Persons with a higher level of formal education had used these sources more than people with less education (P<0.05). Younger patients (<60 years) and those with a higher level of formal education had greater access to the Internet (P<0.0001) and read about cancer in the papers to a greater degree than older ones (P<0.05). Younger patients (P<0.05) and women (P<0.01) had used narratives to a greater degree than older patients and men. The main finding of this study was that the patients actively sought information about cancer only to a limited degree, but the majority of patients take an interest when cancer issues are presented in newspapers and magazines, or on radio and television.