Bernadeth Lyn C Piamonte, Veeda Michelle M Anlacan, Roland Dominic G Jamora, Adrian I Espiritu
{"title":"Googling Alzheimer Disease: An Infodemiological and Ecological Study.","authors":"Bernadeth Lyn C Piamonte, Veeda Michelle M Anlacan, Roland Dominic G Jamora, Adrian I Espiritu","doi":"10.1159/000520692","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Understanding the emergent role of the internet on the health-seeking behavior of people is critical not only in the areas of medicine and public health but also in the field of infodemiology.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Using Google Trends, data on global search queries for Alzheimer disease (AD) between January 2004 and April 2021 were analyzed. The relationship between online interest, as reflected by search volume index (SVI), and measures of disease burden, namely prevalence, deaths, and disability-adjusted life years, was evaluated.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>There was a reduction in the tendency to search for AD during the past two decades. SVI peaks corresponded to news of famous people with AD and awareness months. Symptoms, causes, and differences with the term dementia were central queries for persons interested in AD. No notable overall correlation between SVI and measures of disease burden was found due to competing results. Sub-group analyses, however, showed that these correlations may be influenced by socioeconomic development, with strong negative significant associations observed in lower middle-income countries.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Online interest in AD may represent a more complex metric influenced by socioeconomic factors. Awareness of the impact of celebrity diagnosis and awareness months on online search behavior may prove useful in the planning of public health campaigns for AD.</p>","PeriodicalId":38017,"journal":{"name":"Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders Extra","volume":"11 3","pages":"333-339"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4000,"publicationDate":"2021-12-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/1b/06/dee-0011-0333.PMC8787542.pdf","citationCount":"6","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders Extra","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1159/000520692","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2021/9/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"CLINICAL NEUROLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 6
Abstract
Introduction: Understanding the emergent role of the internet on the health-seeking behavior of people is critical not only in the areas of medicine and public health but also in the field of infodemiology.
Methods: Using Google Trends, data on global search queries for Alzheimer disease (AD) between January 2004 and April 2021 were analyzed. The relationship between online interest, as reflected by search volume index (SVI), and measures of disease burden, namely prevalence, deaths, and disability-adjusted life years, was evaluated.
Results: There was a reduction in the tendency to search for AD during the past two decades. SVI peaks corresponded to news of famous people with AD and awareness months. Symptoms, causes, and differences with the term dementia were central queries for persons interested in AD. No notable overall correlation between SVI and measures of disease burden was found due to competing results. Sub-group analyses, however, showed that these correlations may be influenced by socioeconomic development, with strong negative significant associations observed in lower middle-income countries.
Conclusion: Online interest in AD may represent a more complex metric influenced by socioeconomic factors. Awareness of the impact of celebrity diagnosis and awareness months on online search behavior may prove useful in the planning of public health campaigns for AD.
期刊介绍:
This open access and online-only journal publishes original articles covering the entire spectrum of cognitive dysfunction such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s chorea and other neurodegenerative diseases. The journal draws from diverse related research disciplines such as psychogeriatrics, neuropsychology, clinical neurology, morphology, physiology, genetic molecular biology, pathology, biochemistry, immunology, pharmacology and pharmaceutics. Strong emphasis is placed on the publication of research findings from animal studies which are complemented by clinical and therapeutic experience to give an overall appreciation of the field. Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders Extra provides additional contents based on reviewed and accepted submissions to the main journal Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders Extra .