Low online search interest in teleneurology before and during COVID-19 pandemic: an infodemiological study

Abstract

Background The conduct of patient consults greatly changed during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. There was a decrease in face-to-face patient consults and enhanced utilization of virtual consults. Infodemiological studies, using Google Trends, focus on internet search trends that may reflect public interest and awareness in diseases and as a proxy of public health risk perception. Objectives We aimed to investigate the online behavior of internet users on teleneurology, telehealth, and telemedicine during the time of the pandemic, as reflected in search volume indices (SVI) projected in Google Trends. Methods We used the data from Google Trends to quantify the interest of internet users in teleneurology, telehealth, and telemedicine. These keywords were entered in Google Trends as search terms. Data included were searches conducted from 2016 to 2020 to depict the transition into the pandemic. Results The SVI of teleneurology was unchanged during the 5-year period search relative to the SVIs of telehealth and telemedicine. Contrary to the noted worldwide increase in the SVI of telehealth and telemedicine during the year of pandemic, teleneurology’s SVI remained stable despite the increase of its utilization. Focusing on teleneurology, the highest SVI was observed in 2018. Conclusion There was an increase in the SVI of telehealth and telemedicine, possibly implying an increase in the general awareness of these virtual methods of health care, as catalyzed by the pandemic. However, the stable SVI of teleneurology may signify that the public awareness regarding it remained unchanged despite the increase in application in clinics and hospitals.

Brain Tumor Infodemiology: Worldwide Online Health-Seeking Behavior Using Google Trends and Wikipedia Pageviews

“…applied this concept of health informatics to the field of neurology. They noted possible increasing interest in the use of Google and Wikipedia for definitions, symptomatology, natural history, and treatment of common neurological diseases ( 3 , 7 – 21 ).…”

“…A systematic review of epidemiological data from 1985 to 2014, which included 53 studies reported an overall incidence rate of all brain tumors to be 10.82 (95% CI: 8.63 – 13.56) per 100 000 person-years ( 32 ). The 2016 global burden of disease study saw a 17.3% increase from 1990 in age-standardized incidence rates of CNS cancer ( 21 ). On the other hand, the 2011-2015 Central Brain Tumor Registry of the United States (CBTRUS) statistical report has seen statistically significant increase in trends, but indicates that this might not necessarily represent a large change in proportion of individuals over time ( 33 ).…”

“…There is a beginning paradigm shift in the impact of the internet in shaping general public awareness and healthcare delivery in the neurological setting ( 7 ). Infodemiological studies on epilepsy ( 8 – 12 ), stroke ( 13 ), multiple sclerosis ( 14 , 15 ), poliomyelitis ( 16 ), meningitis ( 17 ), Alzheimer disease ( 18 ), movement disorders ( 19 ), and even on telerehabilitation ( 20 ) and teleneurology ( 21 ) have shown an unsubstantial connection between actual incidence and prevalence, but presented initial trends that reflect the increasing number of people using the internet to seek online health information regarding these neurological diseases.…”

Global online interest in cervical cancer care in the time of COVID-19: An infodemiology study

“…This is mirrored by our study’s findings, where we also found decreased online interest in cervical cancer and the Pap test after the pandemic was declared. Expectedly, as interest in COVID-19 increased ( Effenberger et al, 2020 ), online interest in other health topics decreased transiently ( Alonto et al, 2022 , Dzaye et al, 2021 , Jella et al, 2020 , Mohty et al, 2021 ). On the other hand, increased online interest in the HPV vaccine may be related to the general increased online interest in vaccines given the pandemic – global online interest in both pneumococcal and influenza vaccines also peaked in February and March 2020 ( Paguio et al, 2020 ).…”

Burden of neurological diseases in the Philippines as revealed by web searches: an infodemiological study

“…This may lead to reliable and meaningful indicators to track health information supply and demand [4]. Although the data is not structured nor systematic, the huge data from search engines can easily identify frequencies and trends on diseases and other health concepts from a population perspective [5][6][7][8]. Patients with neurological diseases are some of the most active in the internet and many of them utilize digital healthcare [9], likely due to the disability incurred from their neurological condition which limits their mobility.…”