JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Acne is a common skin disease primarily affecting young adults. Given that the internet has become a major source of health information, especially among the young, the internet is a powerful tool of communication and has a significant influence on patients.

Objective:

To clarify the features of patients’ interest and to evaluate the quality of the information about acne on the internet

Methods:

We compared the search volumes on acne with those of other dermatological diseases using Google Trends from January 2004 to Aug 2019. We also figured out the search volumes for relevant keywords of acne on Google and Naver and evaluated the quality of answers to the queries in KnowledgeiN.

Results:

The regression analyses of Google Trends data demonstrated that the patients’ interest in acne was higher than that for other dermatological diseases, such as atopic dermatitis (β = −20.33, p < 0.05) and urticaria (β = −27.09, p < 0.05) and has increased yearly (β = 2.38, p < 0.05). The search volume for acne was significantly higher in the summer than in the spring (β = -5.04, p < 0.05), and on weekends rather than on weekdays (β = -6.68, p < 0.05). The most frequently searched-for relevant keywords with “acne” and “cause” were “stress,” “food,” and “cosmetics.” Among food, the two highest acne-related keywords were milk and wheat in Naver, and coffee and ramen in Google. The queries in Naver KnowledgeiN were mostly answered by a Korean traditional-medicine doctor (53%) or the public (34%), but only 12% by dermatologists.

Conclusions:

: Physicians should be aware of patients’ interest in and beliefs about acne to provide the best patient education and care, both online and in clinic.