JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The prevalence of food and drug allergies is steadily increasing in Germany. Not only do those affected feel that their quality of life is restricted, but this also places an additional burden on the healthcare system. At the same time, more and more people are using the Internet and other digital sources in their search for health information.

Objective:

The aim of this study was to use the Google-AdWords-Keyword-Planner to identify the information needs and knowledge gaps of the German internet-using population in order to create a basis for future prevention and education strategies with regard to food and drug allergies.

Methods:

Relevant keywords for selected food and drug allergies were extracted using the Google-AdWords-Keyword-Planner and analyzed according to various criteria. The observation period extended from September 2022 to October 2024.

Results:

A total of 633 keywords were identified for specific forms of food and drug allergies. This resulted in a total search volume of n= 3,649,390 hits for Munich and Augsburg as representatives of southern Germany and for the rest of Germany. The most frequently searched keywords nationwide were “histamine allergy” (10.1% of the total search volume), “penicillin allergy” (7.3%) and “nut allergy” (2.8%). In terms of seasonal trends in search terms, there was also an increase in search queries for the topics “nut” and “penicillin” in the winter months and an increase in “histamine” queries in the spring months.

Conclusions:

This study provides general insights into the benefits of Google search engine analysis in a medical context and in particular highlights the relevance and potential of this methodology regarding food and drug allergies in the German population. The results emphasize the need for improved and low-threshold education as well as the need to introduce allergy-specific and socially relevant health campaigns as “unmet medical needs” of the German population regarding food and drug allergies.