Eczema-related Web Search Data in Sweden: Investigating Search Patterns and the Influence of Weather

Abstract

As atopic eczema is triggered by environmental factors, such as temperature, differences in disease burden between and within countries are possible. One method to study this phenomenon is to perform web-search analysis, since the internet is commonly used to retrieve health-related information. This study, investigating the Google search volume regarding eczema in Swedish counties between April 2017 and March 2021, revealed a continuous increase in searches and that the search volume was higher in Northern than Southern Sweden. Gotland had the most searches per 100,000 inhabitants. In general, there was a negative correlation between search volume and temperature (r=–0.315, p < 0.001) and [AQ3] hours of sunshine (r=–0.213, p < 0.001), whereas there was a positive association between search volume and wind (r=0.229, p < 0.001). Search engine analysis is a rapid and cost-effective method of examining search behaviour regarding disease among the general population within a country and, thus, can enable the identification of regions with specific interests and needs.

Burden of atopic dermatitis in Europe: A population‐centred approach leveraging web search data in 21 European countries

“…16,17 Web searches for AD increased in all countries over the past 4 years, aligning with previous studies in Germany and Sweden. 11,13 This rise likely reflects the growing role of the Internet as a provider of health information. 13,20 Therefore, it is imperative for governments and healthcare professionals to disseminate trustworthy and evidence-based online information, as the quality of online health information is insufficient in various medical fields.…”

“…Initially designed for marketing campaigns, this tool has been adopted in several medical research studies, including dermatology. 11,13,15 To generate the data, search terms are entered into the tool, which produces keywords and phrases and their estimated monthly search volume (i.e., the number of searches for a topic or search term, SV) for the last 48 months. In the current study, the search terms "atopic dermatitis," "atopic eczema" and their lay terms were entered separately in the native or main spoken language for each country (Table 1).…”

“…Multiple studies have demonstrated that analysing web search data can gain valuable insights into a disease by identifying unmet needs or by linking the crowdsourced data with disease prevalence or external factors. [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] As about 90% of Europeans have access to the Internet and more than 50% of Europeans were searching the Internet for health information in 2022, 19,20 the analysis of search engine data seems reasonable to gain a different perspective of a disease within the majority of a population. 10 Crowdsourced Internet data analysis in the context of AD has been investigated previously in single countries to identify trends and associations with external factors, [11][12][13] as well as globally to assess the popularity of the terms AD, AE and eczema.…”

“…[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] As about 90% of Europeans have access to the Internet and more than 50% of Europeans were searching the Internet for health information in 2022, 19,20 the analysis of search engine data seems reasonable to gain a different perspective of a disease within the majority of a population. 10 Crowdsourced Internet data analysis in the context of AD has been investigated previously in single countries to identify trends and associations with external factors, [11][12][13] as well as globally to assess the popularity of the terms AD, AE and eczema. 14 However, studies examining the spatiotemporal trends and relationships with disease-related and external factors between various European countries are still lacking.…”

Physical influences on the skin barrier and pathogenesis of allergy

“…Another way to examine disease trends are studies investigating web search terms and volume. In Sweden, Google search volume of keywords related to eczema was studied over a 4-year period [29]. Over time, the search volume increased with a 99.6% increase across the study period.…”