JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women worldwide. High-income countries have a greater incidence and mortality rate of breast cancer than low-income countries. As a result, raising awareness about breast cancer is crucial in increasing the chances of early detection and treatment. Social media has evolved into an essential tool for breast cancer awareness month campaigns, allowing people to share their breast cancer stories and experiences while also providing a venue for education and support.

Objective:

The current study intends to assess the public interest in breast cancer-related searches during the previous ten years in chosen high-income nations with a large number of internet users.

Methods:

Google Trends (www.google.com/trends) was utilized to retrieve data on internet user search behaviors in the context of breast cancer from 2012 to 2022.

Results:

Breast cancer search volume varies throughout high-income nations. Breast cancer search volume is higher in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom than in the United States and Saudi Arabia. Weekly and monthly breast cancer search volume showed a distinct seasonal trend during Breast Cancer Awareness Month (BCAM). Over the last ten years, the weekly breast cancer search volume in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States, and globally has shown a significant downward trend. Whereas the breast cancer search volume in Ireland and the United Kingdom has shown a significant uptrend in the last ten years.

Conclusions:

We advocate increasing the number of BCAM initiatives and spreading them throughout the countries in order to generate more awareness and reach a bigger population.