Previously submitted to: Journal of Medical Internet Research (no longer under consideration since Oct 09, 2025)
Date Submitted: Jan 18, 2025
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Online Public Attention Toward Diabetes in Mainland China: Infodemiology Study Using the Baidu Index
ABSTRACT
Background:
In the digital age, users leave traces of their online behaviour. Researchers can use traces to gain insights into behaviour, interpret emotions and monitor disease prevalence. However, infodemiology analysis is rare in diabetes interest studies, due to the fragmentation of diabetes topics and the ambiguity of user expression.
Objective:
This study aims to examine the online search trend and user demand related to Diabetes on a national and regional scale using the dominant major search engine in mainland China.
Methods:
The Baidu Index platform was used to collect data on diabetes-related searching topics from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2023. Infodemiological analysis was then conducted to analysis the time trend, geographic distribution and population attributes of diabetes associated Baidu index.
Results:
From the 185 detailed available diabetes-related search terms, seven topics can be classified which is type, cause, symptom, diagnosis, treatment, prognosis, and prevention. The total index of these terms was 1,373,731,559 for 10 years. The diabetes-related index was generally on the rise. The total APC (Annual Percentage Change) was 6.47% (P<0.01) from 2014 to 2021 and 19.48% (P<0.01) from 2021 to 2023. Geographic distribution showed that the North of China areas accounts for the most proportion of Baidu index. The 20-29 year olds showed a higher level of interest in all topics than the other age groups. In contrast, those over 50 years of age were more interested in the topics of cause and treatment. Females showed more interests in web searches for diabetes than males.
Conclusions:
In China, the demand for internet searches for diabetes is high and on the rise. There are significant differences in search interests in terms of geographic distribution, age, and gender.
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