Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Apr 13, 2020
Date Accepted: Jun 4, 2021
Examining the trend in online health information seeking behavior about chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Singapore using evidence from Google Trends and the Global Burden of Disease study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the third leading cause of death globally and timely health care seeking is imperative for its prevention, early detection, and management. While online health information search behavior (OHISB) is increasingly popular due to widespread internet connectivity, little is known about how OHISB for COPD changed in comparison to the COPD disease burden, particularly at a country-specific level.
Objective:
This study aimed to examine the trend in OHISB for COPD and how that compared estimates of COPD disease burden in Singapore, a highly wired country with a steadily increasing COPD disease burden.
Methods:
We performed regression analyses on monthly search volume data on COPD from 2004 to 2019 downloaded from the Google Trends to examine the trend in OHISB for COPD. We then conducted correlational analyses to examine the relationship between annualized search volume on COPD topics and estimates of COPD morbidity and mortality from the Global Burden of Disease study from 2004 to 2017.
Results:
From 2004 to 2019, the trend in COPD search volume was curvilinear (β=0.80, t=2.81, P=.005, with one upward slope change at the end of 2006; the subsequent analysis of this data from 2007 to 2019 showed a positive linear trend (β=0.48, t=6.84, P<.001). There were also significant correlations between COPD search volume and COPD-specific disease burden indicators in the GBD study from 2007 to 2017: prevalence (r=.81, P=.002), incidence (r=.81, P=.002), disability-adjusted life year (r=.77, P=.006), years lived with disability (r=.82, P=.002), and years of life lost (r=-.64, P=.03).
Conclusions:
Google search volume on COPD increased from 2004 to 2019; this trend correlated with the upward trajectory of COPD morbidity estimates from 2007 onward, suggesting that COPD patients and their carers may be turning to online health information to cope with the illness. These findings underscore the importance of making high quality web-based information accessible to COPD patients and their carers.
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